Former tourism minister Joe Grima.Former Labour minister Joe Grima was appointed as the Prime Minister’s special envoy to the United Nations World Tourism Organisation.
Having served as tourism minister between 1983 and 1987, Mr Grima feels it is a role he will “fit in”.
When contacted, Mr Grima confirmed he had been in touch with the Office of the Prime Minister when he was offered the post, which, he said, he accepted immediately and thanked Dr Muscat for believing in him.
“I served as tourism minister and it is a sector with which I remained attached. I think it is an area where I would fit in. I am also pleased to have this new opportunity to serve my country once again,” Mr Grima said.
He added it was a three-year appointment and, while refusing to give details on remuneration, said it was a “standard” one.
“I can assure you they did not create a special package for me. It will be standard remuneration I would be receiving,” he said.
Other special envoys appointed by Dr Muscat include the former High Commissioner to London, Joseph Zammit Tabona, as his special envoy for investment promotion; former Labour foreign minister Alex Sceberras Trigona and former Labour MP Maria Camilleri. According to information given in Parliament, these have a €34,684 salary but Ms Camilleri refused the pay and was receiving €100 a month to cover expenses.
When asked whether his recent tiffs with the Labour Party had been discussed prior to accepting his new role, Mr Grima replied in the negative. “This is a free country and everyone is free to say what he likes. Obviously, one must assume responsibility for one’s actions but I never held back from commenting whenever I felt the need to comment,” he said.
Mr Grima had been embroiled in controversy in the summer of 2012 when he made the headlines after using foul language to reprimand a British priest over a harshly-worded obituary of late Labour leader Dom Mintoff in The Catholic Herald.
Dr Muscat had deemed the offensive Facebook comments “unacceptable”. A few hours later, Mr Grime wrote to Dr Muscat resigning from his popular One TV programme Inkontri.
Mr Grima admitted his comments about Fr Alexander Lucie-Smith were “certainly inappropriate”.
“I feel that neither you nor the Labour Party should in any way pay a price for what was, in every way, a slip-up, which is being turned into one attack after another on you and the party,” Mr Grima wrote, adding that he valued diversity and was “anything but a homophobe”.
The homophobe proviso was in reference to comments he had passed on former EU Permanent Representative and Nationalist Party strategist, Richard Cachia Caruana, calling him: “Rich il-Puff”.
In his rant on Facebook, Mr Grima claimed Mr Cachia Caruana was selling a villa he owned in Valletta for €5 million, which, he had added, had an “exclusive” permit for a pool.
Mr Cachia Caruana, who said he was planning to sell his house in Mdina (not Valletta), sued Mr Grima for libel.