Arnold Cassola has already condemned Malta’s nominee to replace European Commissioner John Dalli with an unholy haste that can only smack of partisan ideological bias at a time when the national interest demands national unity in facing the loss of image caused by the OLAF report.

Cassola admits that the report and its fallout “hit all of us Maltese since it has given us a bad reputation in Europe and in the world”.

This notwithstanding, he, on behalf of Alternattiva Demokratika, let go a partisan assault on the proposed nominee which in itself can only damage further the very same image of “us Maltese”.

It is legitimate to question the political wisdom on the part of the Nationalist Party to provoke an untimely vacancy in the post of deputy leader when it should be concentrating all its resources in uniting the party to face a difficult election that is just round the corner. It is also legitimate to query the cost that such a nomination could have on Cabinet at a time when much talent has been lost and is still being seriously subjected to further parliamentary challenge.

Yet, there can be no possible questioning of Borg’s EU credentials and, above all, his life-long commitment to the enforcement of fundamental human rights in Malta and in Europe.

Borg’s name remains indelibly chiselled in the march of human rights in Malta when he ably defended, together with that living monument of fundamental rights protection, Judge Giovanni Bonello, the freedom of the press when Parliament proceeded to condemn an editor for breach of parliamentary privilege for having poked fun at a couple of MPs.

The Demicoli case remains required reference to any student of constitutional law and human rights. Borg and Bonello passed on to challenge successfully the affront to the freedom of the press before the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg and were, in fact, proved right when the Court held, in essence, that Parliament has breached the editor’s fundamental human rights for a fair trial since the accusers doubled up as both prosecutors and adjudicators during the procedures against Demicoli.

Borg remains a long-standing believer and supporter of the process for European integration and has been so since his student days. He was profoundly influenced by the legacy of such towering lights as Schuman, Adenauer and De Gasperi.

I remember his dedicated commitment to have Malta find its rightful place within the EU even when the PN was totally absorbed, together with so many other Maltese patriots, to restore the fundamentals of democracy such as majority rule in Malta and the independence of the judiciary in the face of such acts by the Executive of suspending the entire judiciary just because a judge had the temerity to decide a human rights case against the State.

Yet, Cassola finds the term ‘fundamentalist’ apt to describe Borg. Having known Borg for the better part of 38 years, allow me to certify that, yes, he is a fundamentalist but for the observance of fundamental human rights and not of any religious or political belief.

Maltese society is undergoing profound change in its social fabric, which necessarily provokes radical rethinking of the mores that had, for so many decades, not to say centuries, remained unchanged.

The symbiosis between Christian culture and our national identity is not a sign of fundamentalism and the respect by the State of Christian heritage has been accepted by the European Court itself. Europe is not built by discriminating against those who recognise that the social fabric of a nation, or even, for that matter, of Europe itself, has at its roots the Christian belief that each person is the product of an individual soul created by God and, therefore, needs to be respected by the State.

Christians, of necessity, must participate directly in the long march of fundamental human rights in the full respect that there may exist different interpretations of where that march is going. Ultimately, what matters is the European Court’s decisions on those interpretations.

Whether Borg is more needed abroad than in Malta is, of course, for the PM to decide and to assume responsibility for. Yet, there can exist no doubt the choice of a distinguished human rights activist and guarantor cannot be faulted.

Cassola concluded his article by stating that he hopes that “(Lawrence) Gonzi and (Joseph) Muscat can go beyond their egoistic parochial party interests in favour of our country’s superior needs”.

Allow me perhaps humbly to add AD to that same list.

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