Foreign Minister George Vella’s insinuations about me, reported in the item No Partisan Politics (July 15), are highly misleading and most ironic. What tarnishes Malta’s reputation is the insistence on keeping options open – even those that have been declared illegal by the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

What tarnishes Malta’s reputation is that migrant families were separated and had access to NGOs and legal representation blocked; that an imminent deportation was only halted because the court had to remind Malta that breaching fundamental human rights was unacceptable; and that negotiating tactics were used that were better suited to a dictatorial underdeveloped country. I invite Dr Vella to read my declaration to which he refers.

The declaration calls on member states to avoid considering measures that breach human rights, and asks the EU to show Malta solidarity during this time.

It is true the declaration also gives a chronologically factual account of the events as they occurred – which again, certainly tarnishes Malta’s reputation – but seeing as these actions were supposedly intended to have the EU “wake up and smell the coffee” you cannot expect them not to find out.