In her injured letter (‘Stand against Hungary’, November 29), Roberta Metsola draws my attention to her Facebook page in which she makes an excellent intervention in the European Parliament in the presence of Prime Minister Victor Orban condemning Hungary’s democratic credentials.

I have no hesitation in apologising unreservedly for having missed this when I implied in my article, ‘Metsola’s 17 Black’, that she had stayed silent about the undemocratic attack on the rule of law in Hungary. I was clearly mistaken, though in mitigation, Metsola’s Facebook page is hardly top of my reading list and her intervention did not quite make world headlines. I should have checked.

Her letter focused on just 30 of my 1,000-word article, the purpose of which was to deconstruct and demolish the self-serving farrago she presented to readers about 17 Black in her ‘Pieces of the puzzle’ (November 20).

Sadly, she chickened out of confronting the arguments. Instead of adopting a careful approach on 17 Black as most grown-up politicians would do – and, as a lawyer, respecting due process and the presumption of innocence until proven guilty - Metsola has chosen to use her position as an MEP to imply she knew something she could not prove, making a mockery of the concept of objective truth, which, ironically, was the subject of her article.

I shall continue to exercise my responsibility as an independent columnist in Malta’s vibrant and free press to expose those Nationalist MEPs, like Metsola, who have worked to undermine Malta’s international reputation over the last two years.

She carefully insinuated herself into the European Parliament’s so-called ‘Rule of law mission’ with the apparent intention of ensuring other MEPs on the committee were fed a partial and partisan account of the state of the rule of law in Malta, one dictated by ludicrous ‘politically conclusive’ considerations.

When the Maltese electorate comes to vote in the European Parliamentary elections in May next year, I hope they will be fully informed about those Nationalist MEP candidates who deserve to represent Malta and those who, by their record, have proved unworthy.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.