How Fenech Adami tried to get Dalli to Brussels before PN leadership contest
Eddie Fenech Adami had offered John Dalli the post of European Commission just before he was set to resign in 2004, in what was possibly the Prime Minister’s attempt in paving the way for Lawrence Gonzi’s succession to the Nationalist leadership.
Dalli, who is now set for Brussels after being offered the post by Gonzi, confirmed what Fenech Adami told MaltaToday this Wednesday.
It would have spared Gonzi the challenge of the then finance minister to take the helm at the PN, which would mark the beginning of an acrimonious relationship between the two rivals.
The account is starkly different from Gonzi’s claims made on Tuesday that it was Dalli who had expressed an interest in taking up the post five years ago.
But according to Fenech Adami, Dalli was “reluctant” when he asked him if he would accept such a position, even though Dalli told him he would have accepted “if it was his wish to see him nominated as Commissioner”.
Dalli refused to comment when asked whether the offer was made in a bid to clear the way for Gonzi to become party leader.
“Don’t put words in my mouth. I am simply saying that the offer preceded the leadership contest. I don’t want to say anything more on this episode,” Dalli told MaltaToday.
Ultimately, Dalli’s reluctance to accept Fenech Adami’s offer paved the way for a three-horse race involving himself, Louis Galea and Lawrence Gonzi.
In the aftermath of Gonzi’s victory, Dalli was made foreign minister but then found himself having to resign when he was implicated in a fabricated private investigator’s report on kickbacks in the award of a tender for Mater Dei hospital’s equipment. He would spend three years as a backbencher before being rehabilitated by Gonzi himself just prior to the 2008 general elections.
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