It was only right for the Italian Prime Minister to have been invited to the inaugural ceremony of the interconnector that joins Malta to the Italian electricity grid.
It was also right to invite Lawrence Gonzi, the former prime minister who, together with his Cabinet and government, were the architects of this project and this not only on paper: they set the ball rolling by obtaining the funds from the European Union, about 70 or 80 per cent of the cost. The rest, I suppose, came from taxpayers, so I expected that all of the Maltese people – through their representatives – should have been invited to attend. If not, at least the Nationalist Party, the parliamentary Opposition.
Why wasn’t it? Shame.
Why was Gonzi invited to attend but not Simon Busuttil? It was because somebody wanted to put a wedge between Gonzi and Busuttil.
Had I been Gonzi I would have turned down the invitation, saying that today’s parliamentary Opposition comes before me and if you do not want to invite them, please leave me alone.
As things turned out, Gonzi was used and that was wrong.
He, of course, still treasures the party he once led, like the leaders before him.