“The measure of a man is what he does with power.”
Plato
Roberta Metsola and Joseph Muscat are two, may be the most well-known, of a new generation of politicians. But that is the only common factor about them. Their political careers are poles apart.
Metsola has been involved in politics since her student years. She graduated from the University of Malta specialising in European Law and Politics. After forming part of various committees within the European Union, she was elected as an MEP in April 2013.
In December 2019 she formed part of a fact-finding European Parliament delegation which was in Malta for two days of meetings. The delegation met disgraced Joseph Muscat still at Castille a few days before his official resignation. After the meeting, speaking to the media Metsola described Muscat as adamant to calls for his immediate resignation.
But her words were accompanied by one defiant act – refusing to shake the dishonoured prime minister’s hand. As Joseph Muscat walked into the room and approached her to shake hands before the meeting started, Metsola turned her head the other way and refused to shake his hand. The photo went viral on the social media. It became the iconic photo of the year.
Roberta Metsola’s political career has progressed remarkably. She was elected as vice-president of the European Parliament, after the demise of Davide Sassoli. In January 2022 Metsola was elected as President of the European Parliament, the youngest ever President and the first Maltese politician to hold such a high esteemed office.
Since her appointment as President of the European Palriament Roberta Metsola recieved a number of prestigeous awards. In 2013 she was awarded the MEP of the Year award for her work on Justice and Civil Liberties. She was presented with the Donne a Innovazione Award by TuttiMedia, the King David Award by the European Jewish Association in recognition for her support to the Jewish Community in Europe.
Roberta received the Woman of The Year Award, honouring extraordinary and inspirational women, by Nadia Calvino deputy prime minister of Spain. During 2023 she also was awarded The Cross of Gold award from Belarus for her struggle for freedom and democracy, The Sukharov Prize for Freedom of Thought and was included in Time’s next top world leaders. She also received the European Institutions Award for her commitment against SLAPP.
This year Metsola was awarded the Boniface VIII Award for her political, culture and social contributions, the Premio Biagio Agnes and the Grand Cross of the Order of Lithuania for leadership. Recently she was voted as the most influential MEP by the European Parliament.
At the young age of 18 Joseph Muscat joined Labour’s One as a rookie journalist. In 1995 he was elected to the National Executive of the Labour Party, a position he kept until 2004. In 2003, he resolutely crusaded against Malta's membership in the European Union. Many still remember the article “X’għandek tagħmel” which he penned just before the referendum vote. Despite his intensive opposition to Malta's entry into the European Union, Muscat contested and was elected as MEP to the European Parliament in the 2004 European Parliament election.
After the resignation of Alfred Sant in 2008, Muscat was elected as leader of the Labour Party. Muscat resigned from the European Parliament in September 2008 to take his place in the Maltese Parliament as Leader of the Opposition. In 2013, after a millionaire electoral campaign, Labour was elected to power and Joseph Muscat was sworn in as the youngest ever prime minister. What happened during his tenure is known to all, not only in Malta.
One journalist, Daphne Caruana Galizia, uncovered all that was going on and started publishing her blog ‘Running Commentary’, which was read by thousands both locally and abroad. That didn’t amuse the government and systematic personal attacks were launched by a number of state paid trolls. Ministers instituted a number of libel cases against her. Still she did not stop even when Chris Cardona froze all her assets after she reported his visit to the FKK Acapulco brothel in Verbert Germany while on official business. It was the first case of a Maltese politician attempting to use SLAPP against a journalist. Chris Cardona later conceded the libel case.
Around the 2019 European Parliament elections, Joseph Muscat was touted for a European Union post, possibly as the successor to Donald Tusk as head of the European Council. Joseph Muscat’s bid failed miserably because his image was ruined by the Caruana Galizia murder and the large number of reports of European institutions warning about the wearing away of the rule of law in Malta.
In late November 2019, Muscat's premiership was rocked by the arrest of prominent businessman Yorgen Fenech and the implication of Muscat's chief of staff Keith Schembri in relation to the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia. Towards the end of November 2019, after a six-hours cabinet meeting, Muscat informed the President of Malta George Vella that he would soon be resigning his duties as Prime Minister.
It was around this time that Joseph Muscat touched his political rock bottom. The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project named Muscat "Man of the Year in Organized Crime and Corruption" for 2019. That was the only award conferred to Joseph Muscat.
Assuming that he still reigns supreme as emperor of our fair island, Muscat has unleashed an unprecedented attack on the judiciary in particular on the Magistrate investigating him and several members of his cabinet for their role in the Vitals rip-off. Joseph Muscat also requested that she recuses herself. She flatly refused putting him in his place. He has now withdrawn the case which claimed that breached his fundamental rights.
His charade continues, maybe also comforted by the fact that Emanuel Cuschieri is standing by his side. He is now thinking of a come-back to politics by contesting the forthcoming MEP elections. Prime Minister Robert Abela, and maybe the Socialist and Democrats Group at the European Parliament are mulling on this eventuality.
Time will tell.