Next Tuesday Dr Tonio Borg, Malta Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs will face the appropriate committee of the European Parliament in a hearing which is part of the procedure adopted before someone can become a Commissioner of the European Union. The candidature proposed by the Government has the support of the Partit Laburista.
In my commentary in The Sunday Times of November 4 I noted that Tonio Borg would not worry if a sense of fairness prevails. But I also expressed doubts whether this sense of fairness exists. The reason for my doubting is the existence of an anti-Christian secularist lobby in the EU Parliament and the existence of secularist NGOs which will be vigorously protesting outside the building. I wrote that they are out for Tonio’s blood not because he is Tonio Borg but because he espouses Christian values. It is the Christian ethos which is so much hated by the secularists that will be under attack.
The fears expressed by me were today expressed by the Brussels-based European Dignity Watch. The Watch has hit out at what it sees as a coordinated campaign opposing the nomination of Tonio Borg to the European Commission.
European Dignity Watch describes itself as an NGO which “advocates, protects and defends free and just societies which are based on and depend of three fundamental pillars: the right to life, the family and freedom. We defend these core values as non-negotiable fundaments of any democratic society.”
Dignity Watch advocates the fundamental freedoms and personal responsibility, which bring about rights and duties. They focus on: the freedom to act according to one’s conscience, to express one’s opinion, to act according to a religion or belief, not only privately, but also publicly, and the freedom for parents to educate their children according to their values.
Dignity Watch seeks protection for the family which is based on and respects the complementarity of a man and a woman cultivating stable relationships as the basis of a fulfilled family life.
In a statement, the NGO noted the consistent negative campaign that has been going on ever since the candidature of Tonio Borg was announced.
I followed this campaign as much as can be. I could not but notice that this campaign was based on statements taken out of context, half-truths, full blown lies and innuendoes. There are also clear indications that the campaign was fuelled by like-minded persons from Malta. Shame on them!
Dignity Watch points its fingers to the European Humanist Federation, the International Planned Parenthood Federation, and the International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA). Anyone who cares to visit the site of these associations will immediately notice their anti-Christian bias. I suggest that their position is fundamentally anti-European. The European ethos is based on pluralism. But these NGO are based on intolerance. They are so intolerant that they believe that there is only a place for their ideas in contemporary Europe. Anyone who has a different perspective is anathema. Ironically they parade their intolerance in the name of tolerance!
To add insult to injury the issues which they mention, for example, abortion, same-sex ‘marriage’ and divorce do not fall under EU competence!
There is no doubt that Tonio Borg will be fully prepared. He is amply qualified and is clever enough not to fall into the traps that the secularists will try to lead him into. The spirit of fairness of the secularist fundamentals is the only lingering doubt.
I repeat the conclusion of my Sunday Times commentary of November 4:
“On November 13, will the anti-Christian secularist lobby behave in the spirit of positive laïcité or in the spirit of fundamentalism? It the latter is their choice, they would have failed the test, not Tonio Borg.”