European Commissioner John Dalli yesterday launched another attack on the Prime Minister, demanding that he shoulder political responsibility for his “forced resignation” as foreign affairs minister in 2004.
“The political responsibility has to be carried by a politician... the Prime Minister,” he said, as he discussed the circumstances surrounding his resignation.
Barely a year after he appointed him Commissioner, Mr Dalli yesterday pointed fingers directly at Dr Gonzi.
Referring to the fabricated report on a hospital contract which private investigator Joe Zahra delivered to Dr Gonzi at the time – which Mr Dalli insists was the cause of his effective dismissal from Cabinet – he said:
“Did anyone ever say, ‘yes, I... believed a report which was false... I had a report in hand and I didn’t tell the other guy that I had it in hand and I was waiting to give it to the police, for him to be sent to prison’. Did anyone assume responsibility for these things?”
However, his criticism ventured beyond the resignation and into Dr Gonzi’s handling of the country and the party in general.
“I’m seeing a gap between the PN now and the PN we founded and developed. In 2004, when I was pushed out of Cabinet, I gave a speech at the general council saying there were Nationalists who were not seeing the PN as their home anymore. The situation is much worse now.”
When interviewer Andrew Azzopardi suggested the government was facing difficult circumstances, Mr Dalli retorted: “What about the 1980s then? To my mind a party is stronger in adversity. That is the problem... you have to create a vision and unite everyone around that vision. You do that by including people.”
Factionalism was a recurring theme in his analysis of the way the country was being run.
“Can everyone get the same Malta Environment and Planning Authority permit today? Are people treated equally? These are the things that worry me,” he said, as he stressed that in his day as minister he would ensure he would include whoever was willing and able.
“We need to use all of the country’s resources. We need to be Maltese even when we are in government. We cannot keep splitting the country in two: with people of a certain shade made redundant and the ones of another shade being given the best positions, even if they are incompetent.
“The buck stops there (with the Prime Minister),” he insisted, “as with a number of decisions that are being taken in this country”.
He also criticised the Prime Minister’s preferred option to settle the divorce issue with a referendum, describing it as an example of politicians shirking responsibility.
“Tell me how you are going to put a serious question that people can answer on divorce? A question which explains the full implications of the whole divorce issue... and you expect people to say yes or no.”
There should be a decent debate in Parliament and at the end of it, politicians decide and assume responsibility for that decision, he said.
Once again, Mr Dalli refused to rule out his interest in the PN leadership, should the party lose the next election, though he suggested that it would have to be offered to him.
“I have never asked for anything. Even when I was in the private sector, positions were offered to me without the need to backstab anyone...”