[WATCH] Busuttil: Malta can’t take up EU presidency with Panamagate hanging over its head

Busuttil addressed what he termed was the elephant in the room during a conference on Malta’s presidency of the EU

Opposition leader Simon Busuttil has urged Joseph Muscat’s government not to enter the EU presidency in 2016 with minister Konrad Mizzi as a Cabinet member and Keith Schembri as the prime minister’s chief of staff.

Busuttil addressed what he termed was the elephant in the room during a conference on Malta’s presidency of the EU organised by Nationalist MEP Roberta Metsola.

Both Mizzi and Schembri were revealed to have opened secret Panama offshore companies while in office, and bank accounts to deposit up to €800,000 from business ventures. Muscat has only demoted Mizzi from energy minister to minister without portfolio, but Mizzi still handles energy issues.

“The government should not be allowed to retain the only EU minister to have opened a company in Panama,” Busuttil said. “It is completely unacceptable, which is why I led a parliamentary walk-out on a debate that Mizzi was leading on energy. Had we stayed in the House we would have been legitimising him.”

He later told MaltaToday that “we will have to see what the future holds”, when asked whether the Opposition will repeat its walk-out if Mizzi stands up to address the House again. 

“We wanted to send a message that it is not business as usual for us,” he said. “Besides, Mizzi is supposed to be a minister without a portfolio, so why is he still discussing energy-related issues?”

Busuttil told the crowd it was unacceptable for Malta to hold the EU presidency when an important minister and the PM’s chief of staff had been revealed to hold Panama offshore companies during the recent Panama Papaers leaks by the International Consortium for Investigative Journalists.

“I know a thing or two about how MEPs and European institutions think, and what is unacceptable for me is unacceptable for them as well,” Busuttil said. “How can a minister exposed in the Panama Papers get to chair EU meetings? The country’s credibility, reliability and reputation are at stake and I appeal the government not to go through with it.”

The PN leader said the appointment of Alfred Mifsud as Central Bank governor should be stayed, after the deputy governor filed a libel action against Malta Independent columnist Daphne Caruana Galizia, who claimed Mifsud took bribes in the 1990s as Mid Med Bank chairman for the installation of ATM technology.

“How can the government proceed with Mifsud’s nomination when there are dark clouds of corruption allegations hanging over him?” he questioned. “It’s inconceivable for government to simply let it happen.

“I could shut up and let it proceed, but would it be more damaging if I shut up or if I speak up now when we still have time to get it right? I urge the government to remedy the situation before it is too late; we can have a hugely successful presidency but only if we walk into the corridors of Brussels with our heads held high.”