Opposition Leader Simon Busuttil yesterday accused the Prime Minister of employing “cowboy tactics” in Malta while being “sheepish” in Europe when addressing the EU Summit held last week.
Dr Busuttil was reacting to a statement in Parliament by Dr Muscat who said that Malta had “rediscovered its voice” and enjoyed the support of all Socialist prime ministers.
“Now it’s up to others to carry out their duties within their political groupings,” Dr Muscat said, implicitly suggesting that Dr Busuttil now needed to convince centre-right prime ministers to support Malta’s calls for EU action on migration.
Dr Busuttil said that when it came to the results on immigration achieved during the summit, he disagreed on two points, namely on the so-called “concrete” results obtained and Dr Muscat’s negotiating style.
Unfortunately, no concrete results had emerged from this summit and this was the same Prime Minister who said he would not return to Malta without tangible results.
There was a major difference between the way things were being depicted and the truth.
The Government said a December deadline for the implementation of operational decisions had been set, while the summit conclusions spoke about taking these same decisions in June.
There was also a major discrepancy between what Dr Muscat said and what foreign media, which was far from euphoric, reported. Reuters, AP and Der Spiegel were among those claiming that EU leaders had rebuffed calls for action on Europe’s migration crisis.
The final document contained no substantial differences insofar as immigration was concerned. What difference had Dr Muscat made, apart from adding the phrase “operational decisions,” he asked.
Furthermore the document did not contain any specific reference to Malta, despite Dr Muscat’s claim that he had had such a strong influence and despite his heavy criticism of the previous administration for not doing enough. The Nationalist administration had relocated close to 2,000 migrants, said Dr Busuttil.
Dr Muscat had also criticised the previous administration for accepting voluntary burden sharing. One would have imagined he’d have insisted on mandatory burden sharing, but not even voluntary burden sharing was achieved. Although he hoped this would be the case in the future, Dr Busuttil said Dr Muscat shouldn’t claim to have made some major acquisitions when he had returned empty handed.
Dr Busuttil asked for details of the “operational decisions” and what these would consist of. Would Frontex have the same rules of engagement? Would the UN have the same rules of disengagement as Frontex? Why had the Government done nothing concrete about return flights, which were already a possibility?
He questioned why European Parliament President Martin Schultz, who Dr Muscat praised for his willingness to help Malta, had only offered his help now.
The Prime Minister liked to insult, threaten and stamp his feet, and his latest claim was that the Opposition had an inferiority complex while in Government.
This sense of inferiority had led Malta into the EU, won the highest number of concessions and a financial package of €2.5 billion.
Dr Muscat’s cowboy tactics did not help Malta’s image or lead to solutions. He had expected the Prime Minister to be honest, not to claim he had been influential in meetings, when the PN’s friends in the council had told them he had been sheepish.