Man of principle, indeed…

Call me deluded, but I half expected Tonio Borg to flash a sudden fin of self-respect, and refuse to indulge MEPs in their demands for further assurances that he would "actively support women's rights."

Truth be told, not even I was cynical enough to seriously believe that Borg's entire anti-abortion crusade was all along just a façade to play along to the tune of all those band clubs he chirped about last Tuesday.

Like many others I actually thought that at least part of him really did believe in that Constitutional amendment initiative of his... that he really was motivated by a genuine interest in the plight of the unborn child.

Now, of course, it is simply impossible to look back on that episode and not immediately see right through it. Tonio Borg cannot claim to be motivated by a desire to protect the unborn... not when he simultaneously declares that he will actively support policies that fund and provide abortion services in literally dozens of countries around the world... including countries where the procedure is illegal.

Right: now onto the programmes that Borg will be administering as from tomorrow. This is a quote from a recent PQ submitted by an ECR (conservative) MEP: "The two major beneficiaries of the EU funds allocated to sexual and reproductive health are the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) and Marie Stopes International (MSI). For example, MSI received at least €3.5 million for its new projects in 2007 and more than €9 million for the years 2005 and 2009, as it states in its reports to the Commission.

"MSI and the IPPF acknowledge in their reports that they are administering 'menstrual regulation' at many of their locations. These include projects funded by the EU in countries such as Kenya, Bangladesh and Indonesia.

"'Menstrual regulation' is a process in which a manual vacuum aspirator is used to empty a uterus in which an embryo has probably already implanted. In fact, the purpose of the process is to circumvent the law and offer abortion in countries where abortion is illegal."

Nor are the above two programmes the only ones to benefit from EU funding. Borg himself should know better than most that the United Nation's Millennium Development Goals - to which the EU is committed to achieving by 2015 (i.e., during Borg's tenure of office) - include a commitment to maximise "access to sexuality education, family planning services and safe abortion..."

Borg should know this because he (and the party machinery that does his bidding) has mercilessly lashed at Opposition MEPs for supporting those goals (and their related WHO policy documents, which routinely come up for votes in the European parliament) complete with the above abortion reference.

Yet when Tonio Borg becomes Commissioner for Health it will be his duty (along with the rest of the Commission) to turn those same goals into reality... in just over two years' time.

Incidentally this fact alone might explain why MEPs who feel strongly about women's health rights were sceptical about a man who - until last week, anyway - had committed himself to a fiercely anti-abortion policy in all circumstances, with no exceptions of any kind whatsoever.

Well, I suppose they no longer have to worry about it too much. Tonio Borg has just publicly signed away all his former pro-life credentials: committing himself to do in Europe what he has always been simply incapable of doing throughout his local political career: i.e., keep his private opinions/beliefs and public commitments separate.

From this perspective one cannot but appreciate the consistency with which the real pro-lifers have behaved... including former Prime Minister Eddie Fenech Adami, who took a subtle dig at his former deputy yesterday.

Eddie, we were told, would not have provided any such written assurances at all. He would have informed the MEPs precisely where to get off... and quite frankly I would have admired him for it, though I might not agree with his motives.

And Tonio Borg had every excuse to adopt a similar line, too. He had the support and sympathy even of those politicians whom he himself had lambasted in the past over their presumed 'abortion' connections: AD's Arnold Cassola, for instance, who said that the MEPs' demands were excessive, and that he himself would have had problems with the bit about women's rights.

Even Labour's George Vella extended a hand to support the beleaguered Tonio Borg: generously forgetting all the times the same Borg had attacked his own party for its support of the same goals that he himself shall now be responsible for attaining.

And yet, the same man who so recently insisted that Cassola should resign as secretary of the European Greens because of that party's pro-abortion stance, had no problem whatsoever committing himself in writing to provide safe abortions to women in dozens of countries worldwide.

Amazing, how short-lived Borg's principles would turn out to be, when placed under the international spotlight for only a couple of days.

There is, however, one small silver lining to the otherwise ghastly mushroom-cloud of hypocrisy that now rises over Brussels. Henceforth, the Nationalist media machine can never, ever, EVER play that abortion card again. Not while their very own pro-life champion is busy funding abortions in Kenya, Bangladesh, Indonesia.

Though having said that, you never know, do you? The pit of their hypocrisy may really be bottomless after all...