The dismal performance of former Labour deputy leader Toni Abela in Brussels, in his bid to sit on the European Court of Auditors, brought one clear message back home: our standards of political life and of governance just do not make the mark.

Dr Abela was grilled and rejected by 17 votes to nine by the European Parliament’s Budgetary Committee, polling the highest number of ‘no’ votes from among the three nominees who failed the test. There still remains a vote in the European Parliament and a final decision by the Council of the European Union but Dr Abela’s initial reaction was that it was “all over”. Only two weeks ago, Chief Justice Silvio Camilleri faced a similar fate when nominated for the European Court of Justice.

The government has expressed its disappointment at the decision and said there were those who had been interested in tainting Dr Abela’s name, a man known for his integrity. The Labour delegation in the European Parliament said his hearing was “poisoned with misinformation” while the Nationalist Party put the blame for the outcome squarely on the shoulders of the Prime Minister, saying he had been reluctant to take the necessary action on recent corruption scandals. The blame game is on.

No doubt, the government’s performance had a bearing on the decision reached by the Budgetary Committee. One MEP even raised the issue of Panamagate, to which Dr Abela replied it was not for him to judge because he now aspired to be a member of the European Court of Auditors. In that reply possible lies the reason for why the grilling session came to its humiliating conclusion.

Dr Abela expected the interviewers to forget that he is the outgoing deputy leader of the very political party facing a serious of scandals and controversies resulting from poor governance. He also expected the Committee members to ignore the ‘white block’ case which emerged just before the 2013 election.

“I did nothing wrong,” Dr Abela insisted. But in politics, it is not so much about breaking the law but public perception of one’s behaviour. Whatever Dr Abela may choose to say today, he did not come out looking good from that incident at the Safi Labour Party club.

The Budgetary Committee also looked at Dr Abela’s temperament. His defence, that “in our culture” lawyers get censured four to five times a day, could not have got down well. And, of course, the issue of experience in auditing and governance came up, with Dr Abela’s only defence being that he had once held the post of deputy mayor in Ħamrun.

Alternattiva Demokratika’s Arnold Cassola said it was very unfair that Dr Abela, one of the founders of AD, had to pay in Brussels for the “unethical behaviour of our national leaders”. That is only part of the story.

The main problem with Dr Abela’s performance in Brussels, apart from better preparation and, possibly, better lobbying efforts, was his clear inability to shed the island mentality that plagues the country. He may be able to sweet talk his way through controversies back home but could not do the same at that interview.

When Malta joined the European Union, the hope had been that local political standards would improve to match European ones.

They clearly have not and Dr Abela was the ‘victim’ of that failure but only to a point. As Labour’s outgoing deputy leader, he shares in the responsibility for his party’s failure at good governance.