As the saga of the Rosianne and Yorgen chat revelations unfolded and the rule of law in Europe was discussed in the European Parliament, Robert Abela and the Labour Party are pressing with the authoritarian narrative that people like me are traitors to the country for ruining its reputation. This accusation is laughable. I already made an explainer here on the debate at the European Parliament, so next, I will proceed to point out the obvious things which Robert and Labour are too ashamed to admit in public.
As far as I know, ever since Robert Abela entered office, he hasn’t had one single official visit by a Western head of government. Malta is constantly being humiliated abroad by Robert Abela and the Labour government by defending criminals and corruption at home all the while waging a war against free speech and journalism, and Robert is as myopic and insular as to think that the political and economic elite in the West will be indifferent to his unashamed criminal government. Robert genuinely thought that his theatrical acts at home on Labour’s propaganda machine would also work abroad.
The reality is that in the West, barely anyone respects Robert Abela and his criminal government and this is why government officials are busy travelling to Qatar for economic and trade discussions because only authoritarian states are willing to do extensive business with the Maltese government. Robert Abela has no allies abroad. Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni made a foreign tour as soon as she entered office but despite being our neighbour, Meloni chose not to visit Malta. Meloni even ignored Malta on the illegal immigration issue and addressed it by dealing directly with Libya and Brussels whilst excluding the Maltese government in these discussions. And Robert lacks respect even from those who are supposedly his allies such as Spain’s Sanchez and France’s Macron. Malta is completely isolated in the West. I am not exaggerating when I say that when Robert visits international conferences, he is often by himself with absolutely no one would be interested to speak to him as he waits in line behind other dignitaries to get a chance to speak to someone. I don’t think that our status abroad was ever this low. Even Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici had more allies and more respect.
And what did they expect really? Rhetorically speaking of course, because in reality, they expected that the West would make deals and trade with a criminal government just the same way they would deal with a normal liberal democracy that has rule-of-law. Reality hits hard and doesn’t have mercy. So, after ruining Malta’s reputation, Robert Abela is blaming the Opposition, journalists and dissidents for ruining Malta’s reputation.
“There is no one greater than the country,” says Robert Abela, and I agree with him, but if he actually believed in his own bullshit, he would have never become Prime Minister. He is totally unfit for purpose and he should be able to realise this when he experiences degrading loneliness during international conferences. It’s easy to flex your muscle at home when you have a criminal network backing you up and a massively-lubricated propaganda machine, but it’s a completely different ballpark when you enter the big league abroad.
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