The European Commission has refused to comment on an ‘absurd’ statement by former EU Commissioner John Dalli in which he called for the arrest of EU Commission President Jose Barroso should he set foot in Malta.

“The European Commission has no comment to make to the press reports you mention, which are completely absurd,” a spokesperson for the Commission told the Malta Independent.

The statement issued by Mr Dalli was in reaction to comments in made in Parliament by Opposition leader Simon Busuttil. Mr Dalli noted that Dr Busuttil had asked Home Affairs Minister Manuel Mallia whether Mr Barroso would be arrested if he came to Malta.

"Simon Busuttil asked if Barroso would be arrested if he came to Malta.  I would say that he should.  I ask, was Dr BS in Brussels on the 8th July?  Did he meet Barroso or anyone else in the Commission to discuss this issue?  Was it Barroso or anyone from the Commission that asked him this question,” Mr Dalli said in a statement.

"These attacks by Dr BS strengthen the suspicion that Dr BS is part of this fraud committed against me.  I would like to know whether he was part of the fraud perpetuated in 2004."

"Dr BS keeps insisting on Kessler’s lie that I sent him a message not to come to Malta.  I already said, and I say again, that I sent him no such message.  I have a witness to the conversations I had with the journalist including the unsolicited confession by Kessler that he knows that he did something wrong when interviewing Dr. Kimberly and that he was talking to Gonzi."

"As I had said, I was talking to a journalist and was expounding my conclusions based on the fact that Kessler was asked more than once to come to Malta to give evidence in the case against Zammit, and that he did not turn up.  As reported in the papers Zammit’s defence lawyer seems to have reached the same conclusion,” the statement said.

Questions were sent to the government asking if Mr Dalli is still one of their consultants, and whether they condone such statements, but no reply was forthcoming.