Leo Brincat’s failure to receive the MEPs’ backing to sit on the European Court of Auditors is down to the “obstinacy and vanity” of one minister who refused to resign in the wake of the Panama Papers scandal, Prof. John Baldacchino said yesterday.

The director of the Arts Institute and professor of arts education at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the United States, expressed his sentiments on Facebook soon after the plenary vote in Strasbourg.

Prof. Baldacchino, who is also a regular Times of Malta blogger, did not mince his words, blaming Minister Without Portfolio Konrad Mizzi for this setback, which has further dented Malta’s reputation following Toni Abela’s failed bid for the same post last March.

“The obstinacy and vanity of one minister who refused to resign... has put a decent minister in more than an awkward position in Europe simply because he had no choice but to follow his party’s whip to defend his colleague. Oh vanity of vanities, when will they ever learn,” Prof. Baldacchino’s post ran.

Keith Schembri

Meanwhile two observers yesterday called for more diligence when nominating candidates for top EU posts.

“If we keep insisting on sending Cabinet members or politicians close to the government of the day, at the expense of technocrats who are much better versed with the job up for grabs, we could be heading for disaster,” Prof. Lino Briguglio yesterday told this newspaper when asked for his reaction.

On his part George Vital Zammit, a lecturer in public policy at the University of Malta expressed concern that yesterday’s vote piled further embarrassment on Malta’s reputation, as it was the third rejection in less than a year.

He noted that apart from Dr Abela and now Mr Brincat, there was also the failed bid of Mr Justice Silvio Camilleri who last March did not make it through the screening process to sit on the European Court of Justice.

Commenting on the possibility that the European Council might overrule yesterday’s decision, he warned that using its political clout to go against the recommendation of the only democratically-elected institution could convey a negative message about the EU.

Dr Vital Zammit also made the point that Malta needed to show higher respect for EU institutions and not treat the appointment to such posts as a fait accompli.

“Once again we have witnessed a politician resigning from office prematurely (in this case the environment minister), only to be rejected at a later stage.” He said such rash decisions only served to fuel further embarrassment on the nominee himself, as was the case of Dr Abela who relinquished Labour’s deputy leadership for nothing.

“Furthermore, the vote sent a strong message about the importance of political groups in the European Parliament, as the position adopted by the largest political alliance – the European People’s Party - proved to be decisive,” Dr Vital Zammit said.