Another defeat for Jason Azzopardi: more about what actually happened last Friday at the Council of Europe

According to Net News, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe found Rosianne Cutajar guilty of unethical behaviour when she failed to declare all her interests to the European Parliament for four consecutive years. Always according to Net News, the Council of Europe is now asking the Speaker of Malta’s Parliament to provide further detailed information regarding all the steps that he has taken or is going to take vis a vis Rosianne Cutajar.    

When one listens to the Net News one is led to believe that this same Council is expecting to receive this information rather sooner than later from Dr Angelo Farrugia.

If truth be said, the Council of Europe did not find Rosianne Cutajar guilty. It was the Committee for Privileges within the Council and not the Council per se that said that she had made a mistake not to send her declaration of assets and income to the European Parliament. But the Committee also told her that this was a minor offence because it seems and – this is my thought – there are many deputies on the same Council who fail to do so.   

When they got to the more serious case, i.e. whether she ought to be censored because of what she had told the Council and her relationship with Yorgen Fenech, no action whatsoever was taken. Instead, the Committee hid behind the fact that it is going to wait for more details from the Speaker of Malta’s Parliament. In other words, it washed its hands of the matter. So much so that the Committee has postponed to the end of 2022 to take action, if any, on the matter. This indicates that the decision has been postponed to after the elections in Malta!

It has to be mentioned that in order for the Committee in this Council of Europe to start investigating Rosianne Cutajar, a specific request had to be made i.e. a complaint. This was requested by Pieter Omtzigt. Behind this request, was the hidden mechanisation of Jason Azzopardi. Jason Azzopardi was one of those who signed this complaint together with Omtzigt. 

What angered the Committee members most was the fact that Jason Azzopardi ended up disclosing what the decision of the Committee was going to be before the said Committee had even met. Jason Azzopardi uploaded a post on his Facebook page a few days before the Committee met and explained what the Committee’s decision was going to be in Rosianne Cutajar’s regard. He also told her that if she thought that she would get away with it scot-free, she was wrong. Azzopardi carried on revealing what form of measures were going to be taken against her. In brief, the plan was that Rosianne Cutajar would be censored in the same manner as a deputy from Azerbaijan. This is Azzopardi’s post translated:

On 27th June 2019 was Rosianne Cutajar intervention at the Council of Europe, the only one she ever made there.

She did it to defend Yorgen Fenech. She did this while in a relationship with Yorgen Fenech. While she receiving costly presents apart from money. 

This is a conflict of interest, which she has never declared and which Robert Abela never condemned.

On Tuesday the Council of Europe is going to decide on the complaint against her signed by Pieter Omtzigt, myself, and other European deputies coming from different political parties. 

If Rosianne Cutajar, Robert Abela and the Labour Party thought that they are going to get away with it because she resigned from the Maltese Delegation they are wrong.

You ought to be ashamed to drag Malta down to the same level as that of Azerbaijan in the council of Europe.   

This post stirred up trouble within the Committee. This site is informed that the Committee had to seek a way out of this ugly cloud that hung over the Committee; as it appeared a priori to have reached a decision about an individual, when in fact it had still to hold a meeting. I am told that there are some members on the Committee who are very angry with Jason Azzopardi for what has happened and what he has written.

It is so obvious that it was all orchestrated and agreed upon to the extent that even articles in the local media appeared before the Committee had reported its findings. The media articles declared that Rosianne Cutajar would be found guilty. The media had committed the same mistake as Jason Azzopardi, by declaring that this Committee would impose on Rosianne Cutajar the same measures that were applied against a deputy from Azerbaijan Deputy.

For this reason, the decision taken by the Committee of Privileges of the Council of Europe has to be considered a defeat for Jason Azzopardi and even more for his friend Pieter Omtzigt. The decision taken was not one of guilt with regard to Rosianne Cutajar but one about how to save face!

Nevertheless, the question is: Was there any need to go to the Council of Europe and damage Malta in this fashion? Was it necessary to get to this point to end up falling flat on one’s face?  Was it necessary to carry on smearing the reputation of our country with outsiders to then end up becoming a laughing stock? Are we, for whatever reason, going to carry on seeking redress from overseas and form these types of alliances that end up destroying our reputation?