The nomination of Aaron Farrugia as Malta’s representative to the International Maritime Organisation comes across as a consolation prize to the only minister who lost his job in the Cabinet reshuffle that was carried out in January by Prime Minister Robert Abela.

On Monday, Farrugia was approved by Parliament’s Public Appointments Committee, with the Opposition members, in a minority, voting against. Farrugia is not the first to get such an appointment and will most likely not be the last.

Farrugia served as Environment Minister in the previous legislature and was moved to the Transport Ministry after the 2022 election, but lost his place to Chris Bonett in the changes made by Abela earlier this year. He had then said that he accepted the PM’s decision and would continue to be loyal to the government.

Farrugia may have the best qualities for the job at the IMO and, as Nationalist MP Adrian Delia said during Monday’s meeting that led to the approval, there are no doubts as to Farrugia’s ability to represent Malta well.

But there are strong reservations on the fact that Farrugia will retain his parliamentary seat while occupying the IMO ambassador role. In Monday’s sitting, the Opposition pointed to conflicts of interest, insisting that having backbenchers taking up such appointments is “fundamentally wrong” in terms of standards. Farrugia’s argument in reply was that if Parliament remains a part-time job for MPs then they cannot be excluded from having other jobs.

Former Standards Commissioner George Hyzler had expressly used the words “fundamentally wrong” when, in 2019, he compiled a report on jobs, appointments or consultancies that were given to government MPs who did not have a Cabinet position.

“The principle of separation of powers is fundamental in our democratic system… we should be looking towards introducing more checks and strengthening existing ones rather than diluting them,” Hyzler had said at the time.

“An MP whose standard of living becomes dependent on such appointments may find it harder to [take a critical stand]… An MP who publicly goes against his or her government can expect a backlash. This does not only happen in Malta, but in all democratic systems contested by political parties that in turn rely on their members’ loyalty. But ask yourself the question, is an MP who for reasons of conscience would wish to criticise his own government more likely to do so if, apart from the political backlash, he would also face the prospect of losing his job? I think not.”

“All MPs, part-time or full-time, should be debarred from holding appointments or consultancies with the government or the wider public sector,” Hyzler had noted.

Before Monday’s appointment, the Opposition had written to the current Standards Commissioner, Judge Emeritus Joseph Azzopardi, for him to investigate Farrugia’s appointment. According to the PN, in his reply Azzopardi agreed with his predecessor on the matter.

But the government does not want to listen on this. It seems that it does not care about maintaining ethical standards.