Blaming the Nationalist Party is the easy way out.

But anyone who puts political blinkers aside could certainly understand why the nomination of Edward Zammit Lewis as Malta's representative on the General Court of the European Union was never going to make it through.

In Europe, standards are much higher than those we uphold in Malta. Here we have situations in which ministers keep their place even though they are caught in breach of ethical standards, simply because the structure in place enables them to stay on, sometimes with a reprimand, on even rarer occasions with an apology. So much needs to change in this respect for misbehaving ministers to get the punishment they deserve - when the Prime Minister does not act on the matter himself.

Abroad, where accountability is given more value and where Prime Ministers are not lenient with Cabinet members who commit wrongdoing, resignations or dismissals are more common when politicians commit gross mistakes; sometimes, even when the mistake is small.

Here, just to use the latest example, it had to take a second scandal for Prime Minister Robert Abela to seek the resignation of Clayton Bartolo. Another minister, Clint Camilleri, hangs on in spite of being equally responsible for a first scandal he shared with Bartolo that should have seen both ministers kicked out or forced to quit.

This is perhaps why, on Labour's side, they find it hard to accept that when someone is not fit for a job in a European institution, he or she will not get that job. In Europe, the bar is set much higher than Labour's in Malta. Labour does not understand this, and believes that in Europe "anything goes" like it does in Malta. And then they blame the Nationalists when something goes wrong. This excuse is accepted in the Labour circle and among those who follow only the Labour media; outside this circle, it is clear why Zammit Lewis' nomination was rejected. It should not have been submitted in the first place.

We're told that Zammit Lewis' nomination was filed by the Maltese government after a public call, and that the process was presided over by a retired judge. We are not told how many applied. What we know is that Zammit Lewis, according to this committee, was the best candidate.

But, as we said earlier, this was not enough for Europe. For the committee in Malta and for the Maltese government, Zammit Lewis ticked all the boxes. For the European Union's General Court, he did not.

In his defence via a Facebook post, Zammit Lewis blamed the Nationalist Party and all those who, he said, undermined his candidature "against Malta's interests". He said the European committee which interviewed him received letters "with allegations that were baseless" against him which, in the end, led to his nomination being turned down. Even Justice Minister Jonathan Attard turned his guns on the PN and other detractors, albeit in a more subtle way by referring them as those "whose interests extended beyond the competence and skills" of Malta's candidate.

The Labour Party, then, entered the fray by saying that the Nationalist Party had carried out "senseless attacks" against Malta to "score political points" as part of its "holy war".

Zammit Lewis and the Labour Party and government have not understood that the MP's closeness to someone who was eventually accused of being a mastermind in the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia is not something that could be taken lightly in Europe. Let us remember also that Zammit Lewis was part of the government which was collectively condemned by a public inquiry that found that her murder was a result of the culture of impunity that had been allowed to fester.  Zammit Lewis had also publicly defended Konrad Mizzi and Keith Schembri when they were caught having opened secret companies in Panama.

Here in Malta, when the Whatsapp messages between Zammit Lewis and Yorgen Fenech were exposed in 2021, it was not enough for the Birkirkara lawyer, who was then a minister, to resign, or for Abela to dismiss him. Abela did send a message when he opted to leave Zammit Lewis out of the Cabinet following the 2022 election, so deep down Abela showed signs that he realised the intricacy of the situation. What is therefore incomprehensible is that Abela then supported Zammit Lewis for a nomination that, in his heart of hearts, Abela must have known would encounter opposition.

When Zammit Lewis' nomination had first been floated, we had editorially commented that there was a huge risk of a rejection, and that it was not in Malta's interests that this happens.

And here we are today, with Malta again suffering the humiliation of another rejection which, as we said earlier, anyone without blinkers could foresee.