Updated 4.30pm - MEP David Casa reacts
The Nationalist MEPs' decision to vote against Leo Brincat’s nomination to the Court of Auditors is “a great infamy”, according to former Prime Minister and now European parliamentarian Alfred Sant.
The decision broke the golden rule that Maltese MEPs should not vote against fellow counterparts at the European Parliament, he said.
Mr Brincat’s nomination was rejected by the European Parliament by 381 votes to 229 with 58 abstentions last Tuesday.
Dr Sant insisted that the PPE, the largest political group in the European Parliament, decided to vote against Leo Brincat after the Nationalist Party instructed its MEPs to do so.
“The head of the Nationalist MEP delegation participated in the organisation for Leo of meetings with the European Popular Party. Whether one wants to or not, one is led to the conclusion that more than cries and hidden whispers had been going on," Dr Sant said.
“Up to now, within the European Parliament, the arrangement has always been observed by both sides to maintain support for nominations involving Maltese individuals, as is proper.
“Other delegations do the same, in a manifestation of national unity. Given our minute size, the split that has been put on display shows us in the worst possible light."
He said the truth was that the PN in Opposition lacked strong issues, except for the Panama Papers.
Pushing it into a European forum in this unscrupulous way simply amounts to a highly-geared political opportunism
“It can flog it to death as much as it likes in Malta. But pushing it into a European forum in this unscrupulous way simply amounts to a highly-geared political opportunism. It undermines the national interest. It is inviting retaliation of the type – an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth,” Dr Sant said.
He also described the EPP’s decision to vote against Mr Brincat’s nomination as “a blatant example of hypocrisy”.
He pointed out that in the last EP elections, the EPP candidate for the presidency of the European Commission was Jean Claude Juncker, former Prime Minister of Luxembourg. He now led the European Commission while remaining part of the EPP political family, Dr Sant said.
He pointed out that it was during Mr Juncker's stint as finance minister of his country that all the suspicious arrangements were made, by which multinational companies got off paying their taxes, as revealed by the Luxleaks scandal.
It was really strange that the EPP did not have a problem about the matter or felt scandalised by the revelations.
“There can be no comparison between the facts regarding the Panama papers scandal - in which he personally had no mention - as attached to Leo Brincat’s nomination, and the very serious facts that are attached to Juncker,” Dr Sant emphasised.
The head of the Labour delegation at the EP said that the excuse brought forward by the Nationalist Opposition was that he had voted in favour of a motion in the Maltese Parliament dealing with the controversy over the Panama papers.
“It was a vote of confidence, regulated by the three line whip procedure. In our parliamentary system, which is clamped between two parties, both sides have a bitter experience of what happens when a three line whip on a vote of confidence is disobeyed."
'Stop defending the Castille clique' - PN MEPs
PN MEPs did not take too kindly to Dr Sant's suggestion that their vote against Mr Brincat invited retaliation.
Calling the tone of his statement "unacceptable", David Casa, Roberta Metsola and Therese Comodini Cachia said a man of Dr Sant's stature - "who has spent a career trying to clean up the Labour Party," they noted - should not be defending the "indefensible actions of Konrad Mizzi, Keith Schembri and Joseph Muscat".
Back in April, Dr Sant had called on Dr Mizzi to resign, writing in a Facebook post that the beleaguered minister ought to step aside "as soon as possible".
In a separate statement, Mr Casa called Dr Sant's comments about PN MEPs "misguided", saying they would only infuriate MEPS.
"To try and spin conspiracy theories when their own MEPs have been so publicly vocal against Brincat’s candidacy is incomprehensible," he said. "Elected members of parliament should stand for the rights and interests of their citizens and vocally oppose institutionalised corruption. Not to do so indefensible in an EU member state."