In his latest article, published on Times of Malta on January 30, Joseph Cuschieri has again seen fit to take aim at Simon Busuttil, David Casa and myself for standing up for the interests of the people of Malta and Gozo.

In his opinion piece he writes: “The PN leader may have found some solace in the bosom of ideological friends like European Commissioner Viviane Reding, whose personal entourage once included Metsola...”

Even if we have to leave his ill-advised innuendo aside, once again, Cuschieri is wrong.

For the record, I have never been part of Reding’s staff or ‘entourage’, as he puts it.

Prior to being elected as member of the European Parliament, I did, however, spend some time serving as the legal adviser to the European Commission’s High Representative, Catherine Ashton. Incidentally, Ashton had been a nominee of the British Labour government for the post of European commissioner.

So, perhaps, that is what Cuschieri meant.

Let me reiterate that Casa and I represent all the Maltese and Gozitan people in the European Parliament, irrespective of political leanings, and when their interests are different to those of Joseph Muscat or of his commercial partners, you will always find us on the side of the people.

Allow me to also take this opportunity to once again invite Cuschieri to sit around a table and discuss the citizenship scheme.

Had he and his Labour Party colleagues listened to us and done that back in October, this country might have avoided all the bad international headlines of the last four months that this government has given rise to.