How our politicians export Maltese bickering to the European stage

One of the most well-known examples of the dysfunctional nature of Maltese politics is the endless amount of bickering we witness in Parliament.

With two debates about Malta’s rule of law happening this week, the government’s propaganda machine is on overdrive, eagerly smearing anyone who dares utter a word about corruption as a traitor, driving investment away from the country.

Later today, the European Parliament will be holding a debate titled ‘Delayed justice and rule of law backsliding in Malta, eight years after Daphne Caruana Galizia’s assassination.’

Though the agenda for the European Parliament’s ongoing plenary session was agreed upon by all parliamentary groups, the narratives being pushed forward by Malta’s MEPs couldn’t be any more different.

On the one hand, Labour Party MEP and deputy party leader Alex Agius Saliba claimed that the Socialists & Democrats (S&D) group did not endorse the motion to discuss Malta’s rule of law, while Nationalist Party MEP David Casa, backed by the European People’s Party (EPP), dismissed Agius Saliba’s claims as “desperate” in light of the fact that the S&D did not object to the motion.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Robert Abela ordered his party’s whip to table a counter-motion in Malta’s Parliament to be debated on Wednesday to “condemn the opposition’s behaviour”, framing the Nationalist Party’s criticism about our country’s rule of law troubles as “an attack on Malta”.

Opposition Leader Alex Borg argued that the debate in Malta’s Parliament was deliberately timed to prevent him from meeting with EPP leaders who are set to meet on Thursday ahead of a European Council meeting to be held on 23 October.

All in all, the picture painted by Malta’s political representatives in Europe has been along these lines for years, in particular since the glare of international scrutiny turned towards Malta after the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia amid a raft of corruption scandals that characterised the Labour Party’s 12-year run in government.

A closer analysis of how these local political dogfights spilt over into broader European fora over the years reveals how international scrutiny will always be this government’s Achilles heel, forcing it to repeatedly frame legitimate concerns about Malta’s rule of law as reputational attacks.

Though the government is keen to present itself as a headstrong administration that does not bow to the EU’s mandate to investigate rule of law violations, the reality is that its only real defence beyond blaming the Nationalist Party is the few legislative changes it was forced to enact because of that international scrutiny.

Decoding the Labour Party’s siege mentality

A targeted search for news reports featuring the Labour Party’s responses to criticism in European fora outlines this strategy.

In February, Agius Saliba published a letter sent to the EPP’s leadership in which he urged them to investigate the Nationalist Party’s domestic finances, a move reminiscent of fraud allegations made by the Labour Party in 2017 in relation to a broader scandal about how MEPs managed their budgetary allowances.

Last year’s MEP elections brought a predictable uptick in public spats between PL and PN candidates.

Yet again, Agius Saliba led the charge, repeatedly accusing the PN of “abandoning the country’s interests” in European fora across multiple press conferences throughout his campaign. The narrative was broadly backed by the Labour Party as a whole, with a constant effort to frame criticism as a plan to undermine the country’s economic performance.

In a 2023 debate in which Malta’s rule of law was discussed in the context of a European Commission investigation about the subject, Agius Saliba rubbished the justice commissioner’s report as “recycled facts and total misinformation.”

Agius Saliba had also made similar arguments in 2021 during an EU Parliament budget control committee meeting that was discussing the administration of EU funds in Malta, challenging the committee’s authority by claiming that it did not have any relevant competence to discuss the rule of law in Malta or the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia.

The Shift will be covering the debate in the European Parliament later today.