Leo Brincat paid for the mistakes of others - Bartolo

Leo Brincat’s stunted nomination to the European Court of Auditors was a result of him paying for the mistakes of others, Education minister Evarist Bartolo said while reiterating that Konrad Mizzi should have resigned over Panamagate.

In an interview with Sunday newspaper Illum, Bartolo, the only Cabinet minister who had openly declared that the former energy minister should have resigned from his post, insisted that his opinion on the matter remained unchanged, and that Mizzi should have heeded his advice.

Bartolo, whose former Cabinet colleague Leo Brincat's nomination to the European Court of Auditors was approved by the European Council this week after meeting heavy resistance by the European Parliament, conceded that the former environment minister's nomination was stunted by the "mistakes of others", ostensibly the refusal of Mizzi to resign.

”Yes, I still feel the same way as I did before on this issue,” Bartolo said when asked on whether Leo Brincat had paid for the mistakes of others.

As was predicted, the Panama Papers featured heavily in the grilling of Brincat by MEPs of the Budgetary Control Committee, the first stage in what was a long road towards his subsequent approval.

Brincat had openly admitted considering his own resignation from Muscat's cabinet, but in what a sign that Malta's stain by the Panama Papers had also tarnished Brincat, a total of 315 MEPs opposed his nomination, with the former minister's refusal to back a no-confidence motion against Konrad Mizzi cited as the main sore point.

But, in spite of the European Parliament's vote - which saw the majority of the members of the European People's Party (EPP) as well as 166 MEPs who have no affiliation to the EPP - Bartolo leapt to the defence of his former Cabinet colleague.

He accused the EPP of using “bullying tactics” and of “picking on the weak", and suggested that had the EPP used the same yardstick when voting on the nomination of now-European Commission President Jean Claude Juncker, things would have panned out differently. 

Juncker was finance minister of Luxembourg when the Luxleaks scandal revealed several suspicios arrangements by which multinational companies got off paying their taxes.

“The EPP picked on the weak and the small. If they [the EPP] had applied the same yardstick during the nomination of Juncker, he would not have been appointed as the President of the European Commission,” he said.

Bartolo's comments echo those made by former prime minister Alfred Sant who had said it was "really strange" that the EPP had shown that it had no problem or felt scandalised about the Luxleaks and Juncker.

Asked by the newspaper whether he stood by his declaration that Konrad Mizzi should have resigned over Panamagate, Bartolo gave short shrift to any doubts on his stand, arguing that his opinion had not changed.

“Haven’t I always said this? My opinion has not changed. I still feel the same way as I did,” Bartolo underlined.

Together with Leo Brincat, Bartolo was among four senior cabinet ministers to have told a Labour parliamentary meeting that Mizzi should resign – only for them to refuse to back the no-confidence motion.

In April, Bartolo had urged the government to come forward with a proposal that would see Malta promoting “a public registry” for the registration of offshore trusts and companies in countries such as Panama and the British Virgin Islands.