Last Tuesday, Malta was hit by two unexpected events that both singly and collectively deeply affected the national conscience.

At the Law Courts in the morning, the Appeals Court confirmed the jail sentences that had been imposed on two former priests who had been found guilty of abusing boys being cared for at St Joseph’s Home in Santa Venera.

This case, which had been dragging on for years, was in many aspects a negative first for Malta.

Readers will remember how the case was brought to the public’s attention some years ago and that, were it not for the media, the case would have no doubt remained buried and hidden.

As happened in so many other countries, a case such as this, with all its ramifications, undermines the respect and love which the Church and its many works of good and of charity deserve.

Unfortunately too, as happened in other countries, the longer the delays and the higher the obstacles put in the way of justice rendered the situation even worse as the perception grew, wrongly as it turned out, that somehow justice would not be served.

Then, though the country at that time did not yet know about it, came the news that a former minister and a former European Commissioner had spent the night at Police Headquarters answering questions regarding what has been internationally called Tobaccogate.

Obviously, the fact that Mr Dalli was called in, along with the former Sliema (PN) Deputy Mayor, does not mean that either of them can be considered guilty. The legal system in Malta does not have the Italian system where a person is said to have been put “on the register of the suspected” (sul registro degl’indagati) so at this point what public opinion can say is that the Police Commissioner, or who called in Mr Dalli and later Mr Zammit on his behalf, had a chat with them.

It is in Mr Dalli’s own interest and also in the interests of each and every Maltese that this issue is clarified as quickly as possible and that the contents of the OLAF report, which led to Mr Dalli’s removal from Commissioner be either confirmed or investigated.

While each of the two afore-mentioned events were a body blow to the national consciousness, a third event which fortunately took place also on Tuesday served to at least minimize or smooth over the negative impact of these two.

We refer to Tonio Borg’s outstanding performance before the European Parliament’s committees, which vetted him for Mr Dalli’s successor.

Obviously, we are speaking days before the European Parliament decides, as it will do on Wednesday in Strasbourg, whether or not to approve Dr Borg’s nomination.

As things stand, Dr Borg’s nomination and approval is still in doubt. Undoubtedly, the circumstances surrounding Mr Dalli’s removal had a great say on the perceptions of Malta by the committees’ members. When Mr Dalli was confirmed, the European Parliament had other issues to deal with and Mr Dalli was summarily approved.

But this time, all hell broke loose with regard to Dr Borg’s own positions on the various pet subjects that some years ago proved to be the downfall of the Pope’s friend, Rocco Buttiglione – homosexuality, abortion, divorce etc.

It is true that even in Malta, Dr Borg has been known, and criticised, for being a convinced Catholic who stated the Church’s doctrine on all such issues and that, over the past years, he has collected his share of public criticism.

Whether his statements on Tuesday will stem the flood is yet to be seen. Certainly, in contrast to Mr Buttiglione, he was not antagonistic in his statements and he stated and repeated that in his role as Commissioner he will be guided by the EU Charter and nothing else.

But Dr Borg impressed his interlocutors and all of us who saw him on screen, with his mastery, at such short notice, of the intricacies of SANCO, the ‘ministry’ he would head if approved.

Of course, this judgement is only on the basis of three gruelling hours of constant interrogation. Dr Borg’s personal expertise in past years has been in international relations. It is quite a different kettle of fish to live in Brussels as a Commissioner and to deal with the various difficult subjects tackled on an everyday basis by his ‘ministry’ and in the context of the many circles of the Brussels bureaucracy.

It must be admitted his performance on Tuesday was a ‘bravura’ one. This performance went a long way to assuage the national feeling of shame that the two afore-mentioned events caused to the national psyche.

There is also, to be fair, popular anger at the superficial and even abusive way in which some MEPs treated Malta as if it were a backwater of simple peasants not yet au courant with today’s Europe.

Certainly, as has been said many a time, for individuals (and also for a country) to really be in Europe and feel European, it is not enough to wave the blue flag with the yellow stars. Malta has not passed through the deeply-searing experiences of the rest of Europe – the Protestant Reformation, the Enlightenment, foreign troops on its ground, occupation, etc. And even while it is fully and completely European, it still has a lot of ground to cover.