If Prime Minister Joseph Muscat had any doubts whether he should instruct his Minister Without Portfolio, Konrad Mizzi, to face the European Parliament’s Panama Papers Committee, what Leo Brincat told MEPs earlier this week should have made him decide. Indeed, it should have also made him realise how wrong he has been all along to treat the matter so lightly.
Dr Muscat and some members of his government as well as acolytes did their level best to give the impression that the matter was blown out of proportion.
The General Workers’ Union’s daily, L-Orizzont, even accused Opposition leader Simon Busuttil and “cyber terrorists” of plotting a conspiracy against Dr Mizzi and the Prime Minister’s chief of staff, Keith Schembri (August 19). For the newsapaper, the “conspiracy” was based on “conjectures, unfounded accusations, insinuations and conspiracy theories”.
Judging by what Mr Brincat had to say during his grilling in connection with his candidacy for the European Court of Auditors, he too was part of this “conspiracy” as were other sitting Cabinet ministers who spoke their mind on the matter.
Perhaps the most damning admission Mr Brincat made to the MEPs was that he had no option but to vote against the motion of no confidence against Dr Mizzi in Parliament.
“I had no choice because Prime Minister [Joseph] Muscat had instructed us that this was not a free vote,” the former environment minister said. He even felt the need to explain further: “In Malta, we have a system which we have to follow. If I didn’t follow the party whip, I could have been expelled or suspended.”
Confessing he had even considered resigning over the Panama affair, Mr Brincat said he had decided to stay put so he could maintain pressure on the issue from within. He evidently failed, as did others, including Cabinet colleagues.
Both Mr Schembri and Dr Mizzi remain firmly in the position they had when the scandal broke. In Dr Mizzi’s case it was just a change of name, no more, particularly with regard to his former energy portfolio as he is still very much involved in the sector.
In view of resignations elsewhere in the wake of the Panama Papers leak, the MEPs present at the grilling must have been incredulous hearing what Mr Brincat was saying.
They would have surely agreed with him when he said that, were he in the same position as Dr Mizzi, he would have resigned or suspended himself.
“In politics, ethics are as important as questions of legalities and illegalities,” Mr Brincat declared, and that must have been the point where the MEPs would have wondered why he did not leave, why others did not step down too and why Dr Muscat keeps defending Mr Schembri and Dr Mizzi.
If the European Parliament’s Panama Papers Committee summons Dr Mizzi, he should oblige. If not, the Prime Minister must order him to attend. Indeed, Dr Muscat should say so immediately, even if to control some of the damage to his credibility. To prove his worth, Dr Muscat should really do what he should have done months ago: sack both Dr Mizzi and Mr Schembri.
On the home front, Mr Brincat’s statements hammer home one political reality we all know about but which we very often take for granted, at our own peril: politicians reign supreme.
As one Maltese song has it: they pull the strings from above and we, at the bottom, march on. Mr Brincat has laid bare the need to cut those strings, soonest.