When government decided to get Malta back again into Partnership for Peace last week, Cabinet ministers and Opposition members alike were taken aback at the brash and unexpected move just days since Lawrence Gonzi addressed the nation in reconciliatory terms after his pyrrhic victory.
The decision seemed so much out of tune with what Gonzi had just promised, like a bolt from the sky, that it made everyone smell a rat at the ‘new’ foreign office in Tonio Borg’s hands.
More than the decision itself, it’s the way it was taken that raised eyebrows across the board. Since it was unceremoniously scrapped by Alfred Sant hours after his swearing in back in 1996, PfP reactivation was never a priority at Palazzo Parisio, and political wisdom required an open discussion with the Opposition and a serious parliamentary debate.
But after the initial surprise, things started falling into place. With former foreign minister Michael Frendo out of the way, it was clear that the man who goes by the unassuming title of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Permanent Representative to the EU had a free hand once again on the political chessboard.
It is a known fact that Frendo had kept Richard Cachia Caruana in his place since the former took over the foreign ministry, but under Tonio Borg our man in Brussels must feel totally unshackled in his manoeuvrings from behind the scenes.
Ironically, the only unelected Cabinet member owes his entry into politics to none other than Frendo, when both of them were studying in London in the late 70s.
It was the time when the PN had just started building Eddie Fenech Adami as the opponent of fiery Dom Mintoff, when the London group of young Nationalist activists organised themselves, providing their time and talent towards the Birkirkara lawyer’s image building.
What happened exactly at the first encounters with Fenech Adami remains a mystery, but the outcome is crystal clear: St Edwards-educated Cachia Caruana must have discovered the secret key to the emotional hold on the then PN leader. Appointed his personal assistant in 1987, eventually becoming head of the secretariat in 1998, Cachia Caruana went on to become Malta’s chief negotiator for Malta’s EU accession besides serving as campaign manager in the 1981 and 1987 elections.
The 53-year-old bachelor from Mdina is credited with some of the most momentous strategic decisions taken by Fenech Adami. Always operating in the background and never standing for election, Cachia Caruana has been the loyal and reliable éminence grise to Fenech Adami, the veritable power behind the throne, paving the way for him but also standing up to him in a way that nobody else could, bar Austin Gatt.
A perfectionist and shrewd organiser, Cachia Caruana is a man with a great sense of State who could take care of the fine details but with the bigger picture always in mind. In Fenech Adami’s times, he was effectively the gatekeeper to the prime minister, with even ministers having to go through him to send a word to the head of Cabinet. He was the premier’s buffer – putting people into strategic posts but also the one getting them to resign whenever trouble loomed, case in point being the sensational resignation of Brigadier Maurice Calleja from the AFM upon his son’s arrest on drug charges.
Known for his excellent political nose, Cachia Caruana is a master of astute political co-option of opponents and a firm believer that support can be bought, particularly through government appointments. Brusque and even downright rude with his own staff, he opens doors to people who can be instrumental to government’s cause, only to remind them he is the one who can close them for them when they overstep the line.
He also provided the essential bridge for the party to business and the English-speaking Nationalists – areas where Fenech Adami could not naturally tread on his own given his diverse background.
His other great strategic outposts remain the English-speaking press and individual handpicked journalists where he excels in spinning stories and kite-flying. Yet he has consistently refused to be interviewed by MaltaToday. When I once asked him in the middle of a press briefing in front of other journalists when he will give me an appointment for an interview he just smirked and replied: “It takes two to tango”. That’s his idea of journalism. Being unelected, he also believes he is answerable to nobody.
Nepotism is also one of his favourite power games: his close friendship with Daphne Caruana Galizia is a case in point. Her husband, Peter Caruana Galizia was, in fact, the lawyer chosen by Cachia Caruana – besides his personal architect, Martin Xuereb – in the infamous €21 million purchase of Dar Malta in Brussels where the latter would house himself with his entourage.
The year 2004 was one of his messiest. In that year, the spin master effectively lost his master and ended up spinning to save his own face. With Fenech Adami’s resignation, he found himself distanced from Castille, in Brussels to be exact, in the wake of the Meinrad Calleja jury fiasco – the Brigadier’s son who was later accused of commissioning RCC’s murder. With the case of his own attempted murder unsolved and doomed to remain so, Cachia Caruana became the focus of attention surrounding the Dar Malta project controversy, accused as he was by John Dalli that he had “conceived, controlled and pushed” the Brussels extravagance. For once, the only unelected Cabinet member was under public scrutiny as he had to reply to the Opposition’s questions in the Parliamentary Accounts Committee grilling about the controversial Brussels purchase.
Although Cachia Caruana insisted he did not choose the property himself, Peter Caruana Galizia – the government-commissioned lawyer – actually said that Malta’s Permanent Representative to the EU “was definitely involved” in the choice of the building.
In his autobiography, Guido de Marco does not mince his words about him. He accuses him of having given “the impression that his ambition was to be the power behind the throne”, making it clear he did not take his diktat lying down, nor that he ever succumbed to his interference as foreign minister.
Except for Joe Borg – now Commissioner in Brussels – Cachia Caruana has had terse relationships with all former foreign ministers who loathed his rude arrogance, but now he has found new breeding grounds with Tonio Borg’s carte blanche. The party, and Gonzi directly, owe him a lot thanks to his role in the PN’s strategy group lately, along with party ideologue Peter Serracino Inglott. So never mind the votes, it’s back to RCCPN.

kschembri@mediatoday.com.mt