‘Come clean on corruption allegations within your Ministry if you truly want to focus on education’ Comodini Cachia tells Education Minister at the European Parliament

“Honourable Bartolo, which of the Presidency education related priorities do you foresee concluding by June? What assurance can you provide that you will lead the Council’s work without interruption from the scandals of corruption in your Ministry?”

MEP Comodini Cachia raised this question during a ‘presentation of the priorities of the Maltese Presidency by Minister of Education and Employment, Hon. Evarist Bartolo’ during a meeting of the Culture and Education Committee at the European Parliament in Brussels.
 
During question time, the Maltese shadow Minister for Education and Employment MEP Comodini Cachia told Bartolo “Thank you for taking the time to appear before this committee rather than give yet another bizarre press conference instead of cleaning up your administration from the corruption allegations currently reported in the media”.
 
Reacting to the answer given by the Minister, Comodini Cachia said that Evarist Bartolo was trying to adopt in Brussels a similar strategy he had adopted in Malta, that to avoid replying to questions and trying to deflect attention. “Truly as the Minister said his actions speak for themselves, so does his inaction on corruption allegations”. Comodini Cachia said that it was cheap for Evarist Bartolo to use the Whistle Blower Act to justify corruption allegations “Instrumental in protecting whistleblowers? That is why for months you covered corruption allegations against your canvasser while the whistleblower was charged with defamation!” she added.
 
Comodini Cachia said that this was truly a case were talk is cheap. The truth is that Evarist Bartolo

• covered corruption allegations instead of taking action against his canvasser;
• tried to persuade the ex-CEO of FTS to wait instead of reporting corruption which the latter had already flagged to the Minister
• approved a payment to a contractor (with whom he met a week after being elected) which had not been approved by the previous administration;

 
During the meeting, other MEPs including MEP Krystyna ŁYBACKA from the S&D Group raised questions with Minister Bartolo. MEP ŁYBACKA said “Let me remind you that Universities are autonomous, so we cannot impose curricula”.