Shock was widely expressed yesterday that former premier Alfred Sant, now an MEP and the leader of the PL delegation to the European Parliament abstained in the historic vote in the EP which ratified the association agreement with Ukraine.
While the EU assembly passed it by 535 out of 751, with 127 against, mostly from far-right and far-left parties, only two from the Socialist group are known to have abstained, and Dr Sant was one of them.
The Rada (Ukrainian parliament) and the European Parliament ratified the EU association and free trade pacts.
(Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko shows the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement to lawmakers after its signing it in parliament in Kiev)
The Rada passed it by 335 votes, with no one, even from the former regime’s Party of Regions, saying No.
The two parliaments - which held a joint session by video-link - marked the event with a standing ovation and with a silent tribute to victims of the conflict.
Speaking in a televised interview, the Vice-Chair of the EPP group, Jacek Saryusz-Wolski from Poland expressed surprise at Dr Sant’s action. Europe is facing two threats, he said, one from Russia on Ukraine, and one in the South with the massive influx of immigration.
MEPs from peripheral countries, like Poland and Malta, should emphasise European solidarity even more than MEPs from the core countries, he said.
Maltese MEP and leader of the PN delegation David Casa said he was still in shock and still cannot understand why Dr Sant abstained on such a historic vote.
No country must be allowed to exert pressure or violence on another independent country in Europe, such as Ukraine.
He was surprised that a Maltese MEP and head of his party’s delegation felt otherwise, Mr Casa added, asking whether this abstention is the policy of the Maltese prime minister and the foreign minister, that Maltese MEPs side with Russia, or whether this was just Dr Sant’s own initiative. This is an insult to the memory of so many Ukrainians who died fighting for freedom.