Next week’s hearing in the case instituted by John Dalli against the European Commission for unlawful dismissal could land Commission president José Manuel Barroso into a “big mess” on the eve of his departure from his Brussels hot seat, two Green MEPs said yesterday.
Green MEPs José Bové and Bart Staes, who have long supported Mr Dalli’s claim that he was the victim of a conspiracy, said in a joint statement: “If Dalli is proven right by the European Court of Justice, then Barroso and others are in a real big mess: the claim that this whole affair was a set-up to get rid of Dalli would gain credibility and the EC and anti-fraud unit (OLAF) would have to explain why all this was done in the strange way it was”.
Their statement comes as the court on Monday is expected to hear statements from Mr Dalli and Mr Barroso as well as high-ranking staff in their respective secretariats. The case had been instituted by Mr Dalli following his forced resignation in October 2012.
Mr Dalli is claiming he was fired in the wake of an investigation by OLAF, which concluded that he had had unreported meetings with the tobacco industry and that he was aware that the bribe was being asked in his name and did nothing about it.
The European Commission disputes that John Dalli had been sacked
The report provided the basis for criminal charges in Malta against his former canvasser Silvio Zammit who denies that he asked tobacco firm Swedish Match for a bribe of €60 million in return for the lifting of an EU-wide ban on suns – an orally consumed tobacco which can only be sold in Sweden.
Mr Dalli claims that this investigation by OLAF is “fraudulent” and that therefore his dismissal was illegal.
The Commission, on the other hand, disputes that Mr Dalli had been sacked and insists that he left voluntarily following a meeting between Mr Barroso and Mr Dalli.
The Green MEPs said: “The truth might well be that Dalli had one or two illegitimate meetings with tobacco lobbyists, but also that the EC-hotshots in the Barroso gang that fired him for this had even more undisclosed meetings with lobbyists.”