Castille fumes at Brussels’s choice for Malta representative

With Malta still reeling from a chiding from European Commissioner Viviane Reding and news of legal steps against its citizenship sale the government may be set for a new clash over the imminent appointment of Joanna Darmanin - the head of Commissioner Tonio Borg's cabinet - as the EC's head of representation in Malta.

Darmanin has been the top aide to Malta's three commissioners since 2004, having started her career by the side of then Nationalist parliamentary secretary Joe Borg, right up to his appointment as commissioner in Brussels.

Now undertaking the EU's 'concour' so that she secures a permanent posting in the European civil service, Darmanin is said to be replacing Martin Bugelli as the Commission's liaison in Malta.

While an official call for applications for the said post is yet to be made, the Commission's representations in member states fall under the guidance of Viviane Reding, the commissioner responsible for justice and citizenship.

"There is an unspoken rule that the Commission consults with the government of the day over such an appointment," the Office of the Prime Minister told MaltaToday in an official comment. "We have evidence that this is what happened in the past, so that is what should happen today. The decision stays firmly within the Commission's remit, but we expect to be treated no differently from previous administrations and other countries."

The government itself learned of the 'planned' appointment through its own sources in the Commission.

The Labour government is expected to take a critical view of the appointment of Darmanin: as assistant to Joe Borg during his tenure as foreign minister, she was part of the trusted group of individuals answering to Richard Cachia Caruana, Malta's chief negotiator during EU accession, before he was made permanent representative to the EU in 2004. She would have also worked closely with Simon Busuttil, today Opposition leader, when he ran the Malta-EU Information Centre within the foreign ministry.

She then moved to Brussels with Borg when he was appointed commissioner for fisheries, and then retained by John Dalli in 2009 when he was made responsible for health and consumer policy.

In April 2013, Muscat broke ranks by appointing Dalli as his consultant on health policy after the Commissioner of Police indicated he will not press bribery charges against the former commissioner. Dalli was made to resign in October 2012 by European Commission president José Barroso over an undisclosed report by anti-fraud agency OLAF, alleging he was aware of attempts to bribe him.

A commission source in Brussels who spoke to MaltaToday on condition of anonymity described the news as "a typical act of political posturing".

"The Commission was probably unimpressed by Muscat taking on Dalli as his advisor - they are obviously aware that appointing Darmanin is antagonistic to the government, given that she is Tonio Borg's head of cabinet."

John Dalli himself had gone on record accusing Darmanin of leaking information to the Maltese press on his controversial trip to the Bahamas in August 2012, news of which was broken by the International Herald Tribune.

The IHT reported claims by a Bahamas landlord who hosted Dalli as saying that he had told OLAF the former commissioner was organising a multi-million money transfer. But Dalli claimed he was in Bahamas to secure financing for an African charity, together with international benefactors.

"The Cabinet found out about the Bahamas trip because I erroneously inserted that ticket stub for the Commission's budgetary verification. I was later told I could not be refunded for that voyage.... I have no doubt that it was Joanna Darmanin who was the source of this information."