Profs Simon Mercieca had written about the interesting stories which revolve around Roberta Metsola that the foreign newspaper Politico had exposed:
But now the same newspaper has added another piece to the above information which was shared in Profs Mercieca’s blog. The added piece written by the journalist and deputy-editor-in-chief Kate Day is the following:
Dear readers
It’s been a week of digging for many in our newsroom in particular in Brussels where we have landed a series of revealing stories about European Parliament President Roberta Metsola’s decision to declare 142 giftson a public register for MEPs in so doing missing the deadline for 125 of those items. We also revealed that she benefited from a luxurious free trip to Burgundypaid for by an elite wine society a gift that she also declared after the deadline. Our reporting highlights just how lax the Parliament’s transparency rules are and how inconsistently they have been followed.
“Karma is a bitch ” Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama told a POLITICO panelat the World Economic Forum in Davos hosted by our Editor in Chief Jamil Anderlini taking a pop at Metsola who was also on stage. “More than half of the EU countries would not be able to enter the EU anymore ” Rama said in a not-so-veiled jab at what he sees as hypocrisy from a club that requires higher standards of would-be joiners than it sets for itself.
If like me you’ve left partying in the mountains to others this year I highly recommend this glimpse inside from our EU Confidential podcast.
Wishing you all a good weekend
Kate Day
Deputy editor-in-chief
Interestingly enough Mark Camilleri wrote a blog about Metsola titled “We need more Metsolas in Europe” which reads:
“Roberta Metsola is a breath of fresh air amidst the daily news about the cowardice of Scholz and Macron and the corruption of Maltese politics. Following the arrest of EP vice-president Eva Kaili over bribes from Qatar EU Parliament President Roberta Metsola has claimed that she had refused an official invitation to visit the World Cup in Qatar citing “concerns”and has also denied their parliament chair to address the European Parliament. Metsola has also vowed to enact a wide-ranging anti-corruption reform. Meanwhile the European Parliament has also suspended several initiativesand negotiations with Qatar.”
It is ironical that Camilleri criticises the cowardice of Scholz and Macron while praising Metsola as if she is a saint and a virgin when Profs Mercieca has already showed how the foreign policy that Metsola is pursuing is “a foreign policy dictated to her by Macron and Von der Leyen.”
All of the above makes us wonder if the “I scratch your back and you scratch mine” relationship between Camilleri and Metsola has some kind of backdoor deals.
