The President of the European Parliament, Malta’s Roberta Metsola, was caught in some hot water in the week separating Christmas from the New Year.

Reports indicated that she was to appoint a relative as her chief of staff, a move that was harshly criticised. After she initially defended the move, she later changed her decision and, instead, appointed someone else.

Independent candidate Arnold Cassola, who was among the first to criticise Metsola, was then among the first to applaud her decision to reverse it. She must give the example on nepotism, Cassola said in a statement.

Another statement pointing fingers at Metsola was issued by the Labour Party. The PL said that what she did threw doubts on her integrity. The PL also accused Metsola of nepotism, saying that they angered citizens because they are “hypocritical… (and) taken by people who say something and do the opposite”.

While, with regard to Cassola, it must be said that his statement confirms his consistency and genuine opposition to all that is wrong, it is a different story where the Labour Party is concerned.

For the Labour Party to accuse someone, in this case Metsola, of nepotism and hypocrisy, it’s the perfect case of the pot calling the kettle black.

What Labour wrote about Metsola could easily be said about how the Labour Party acted in the past 10 years, multiplied by a thousand times. Because, in many cases, what Labour has done since 2013 was the perfect example of nepotism.

Political billboards that were put up before the 2013 election promised a Labour Party that would base its work, and appointments, on meritocracy. The PL also promised that people of a different political opinion could work with Labour. Remember the slogan “Tista’ ma taqbilx maghna, imma tista’ tahdem maghna”? (You can work with us even if you do not agree with us).

It did not take much, after Joseph Muscat led the PL to victory in March 2013, for Labour to forget these slogans and embark on an exercise to put people closest to it in important positions, with lucrative contracts at the expense of the taxpayer. And it is still happening today, under Robert Abela, that the so-called meritocracy was put aside to put staunch Labourites in top places.

For Labour then, to say that Metsola forms part of a circle where there is a “culture of impunity”, is certainly rich. Again, over the past 10 years, Labour has given a new meaning to the phrase, given how many times no action was taken against people who were in the wrong. More than this, instead of kicking them out, they continued to be defended and revered. They are still roaming our streets as if nothing has happened.

What Metsola was going to do was wrong, but for Labour to come out guns blazing against her, and accuse her of doing things that Labour is guilty to have done so many times in the past can only mean one thing – Labour is doing its best to tarnish Metsola’s image.

Maybe the PL believes that, one day, she will be the leader of the Nationalist Party.