Dissett simon busuttil biography
Simon Busuttil
Maltese politician
Simon BusuttilMOM (born 20 March ) is the Secretary General of the EPP Team (European People's Party) in the European Parliament.[2] Formerly, he was Leader of the Opposition.[3] and Leader of the Nationalist Party[4] in Malta and a Member of the European Parliament for Malta.[5]
Education
Busuttil, who is from Lija, graduated as Doctor of Laws (University of Malta, ), MA in European Studies (University of Sussex, ) and Magister Juris in International Law (University of Malta, ).[6][7][8] As a trainee he was President of the Maltese Christian Democrat Students, SDM (–91), Student Representative on the Senate of the University of Malta (–92) and International Secretary of the Maltese National Youth Council ().[9][10]
Career
Busuttil's career is mostly linked with EU affairs as well as with his parliamentary roles in the European Parliament and in the national Parliament in Malta.
In , Busuttil was appointed Head of the Malta-EU Information Centre (MIC) and led Malta's public awareness campaign ahead of the EU membership referendum. At the same second he was also a member of Malta's Core Negotiating Organization (negotiating Malta's membership in the EU) and the Malta-EU Steering and Action Committee (MEUSAC) in [11][12]
Member of the European Parliament
In , Busuttil was elected as an MEP with the Nationalist Party in the election for the European Parliament netting the largest number of personal liking votes, 58, votes.[13] He was the first Maltese MEP to address the European Parliament on 21 July [14] He was re-elected to the European Parliament in the election, again registering the largest vote tally of votes ever, or 68, votes.[15]
As an MEP he was a member of the bureau of the European People's Party (EPP) and sat on various committees including the European Parliament's Committee on Budgetary Control and its Committee on Budgets.[16] But his strongest contribution was within the Civil Liberties, Justice and Dwelling Affairs Committee where he was the Coordinator (Spokesperson) for the EPP Group and covered issues that include the sensitive areas of common European immigration and asylum policy.[17]
Deputy Leader of the Nationalist Party and MP
In November , he was elected Deputy Leader of the Nationalist Party following the resignation of Tonio Borg.
Watching Simon Busuttil on Dissett: Bugeja is playing the ...: Simon Busuttil MOM (born 20 March ) is the Secretary General of the EPP Group (European People's Party) in the European Parliament. [2]. Formerly, he was Leader of the Opposition. [3] and Leader of the Nationalist Party [4] in Malta and a Member of the European Parliament for Malta. [5].He was elected an MP in the general election.[18]
Leader of the Nationalist Party and Leader of the Opposition
Immediately after the elections, incumbent Leader Lawrence Gonzi announced that he would not be seeking re-election for the role of leader of the Nationalist Party.
Busuttil was one of four candidates running for leadership along with Mario De Marco, Raymond Bugeja and Francis Zammit Dimech.[19] On 4 May , at the first round of voting, Busuttil obtained % of the votes while Mario De Marco obtained % and conceded the race, disappearing Busuttil de facto leader elect.[20] A further vote was taken on 8 May in decree for him to officially obtain 2/3 of the votes, the threshold required by the election rules.[21] Simon Busuttil was confirmed Leader having exceeded 90% of the votes cast.[22][23] As head of the opposition, Busuttil also announced his Shadow Cabinet in May [24]
Busuttil's term as Chief of the PN and of the Opposition was characterised by a his choice to champion the rule of law and the fight against corruption in Malta.
He led the Contradiction charge against the Labour Government led by Joseph Muscat tracking the revelations made by Daphne Caruana Galizia and PanamaPapers in February and April respectively. In April , he published a leaked report that implicated the Chief of Staff in cash laundering activities linked to Malta's golden passport scheme.
The obeying month, in May , Busuttil published yet another leaked record and presented evidence of alleged illegal transfers to the tune of €, paid by Keith Schembri to the former Managing Director of The Times of Malta, Adrian Hillman.[25] The revelations increased pressure on the Labour Government and Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and eventually led to an early election being called on 1 May In reaction, Busuttil said that people faced a stark choice between Joseph Muscat's interests and Malta's interest and appealed to voters to 'Vote for Malta'.[26] He claimed that the elections were a matter of trust, not just proposals.[27] He claimed that Muscat called the snap election to evade justice.[28] Busuttil led the General Election campaign based on a platform of the combat against corruption and the importance of Rule of Law.[29]
In that election, Busuttil contested the 11th and 12th Electoral Districts in the Maltese general election as the leader of the Nationalist party.[30] However, on 4 June , after polls on the previous day, it was transparent that the Malta Labour Party had won by a 55% margin.[31] The win was historic as the Labour party won the election by a write down margin, and the margin was seen to be even bigger than in the Maltese general election.
Many reasons were attributed for the result, including the fact that the economy was experiencing record growth under Joseph Muscat while at the identical time the PN gave minute reason for being elected other than a good governance pledge, which even that was not considered authentic because of the corruption scandals that rocked the party back during their occasion in government.[32] Busuttil conceded defeat[33] and the following day announced his resignation as leader of the Nationalist Party along with the entire party administration.[34] He met party activists on 6 June and explained that although he would be leaving, the party should "never give up" in its principled fight for the rule of law.
Busuttil's career is mostly linked with EU affairs as well as with his parliamentary roles in the European Parliament and in the national Parliament in Malta. InBusuttil was elected as an MEP with the Nationalist Party in the election for the European Parliament netting the largest number of personal preference votes, 58, votes. He was elected an MP in the general election. Immediately after the elections, incumbent Leader Lawrence Gonzi announced that he would not be seeking re-election for the role of leader of the Nationalist Party.He also announced a new and more open procedure for electing the new chief, with all party members creature able to vote to elect their leader for the first time.[35]
Backbench MP
On 17 September , Busuttil was succeeded by Dr Adrian Delia as leader of the Nationalist Party and on 6 October as Leader of the Opposition.
In February , Delia appointed Busuttil as Shadow Minister for Good Governance, asking him to continue his battle for the rule of law.[36][37] Nevertheless relations between them turned sour when Delia asked Busuttil to resign from the PN parliamentary group in the awaken of the news of the publication of the conclusions of the 'Egrant' magisterial inquiry into the alleged ownership of one of the Panama company by the Prime Minister's wife, which concluded that no proof was found that Egrant belonged to the Prime Minister's wife although the inquiry did not detect details of the actual owner.
Delia had not yet been given a copy of the inquiry when he accused Busuttil. The allegation had first been made by Daphne Caruana Galizia, and was believed by Simon Busutil to the point of putting the allegation centre stage in the election campaign. Busuttil warned Delia that he should not side with Muscat and refused to suspend himself.[38] The Administrative Council of the Nationalist Party met later during 22 June in order to talk about the events, and backed Delia's request to Busuttil, asking the latter to make way so that the party can relocate on in an effective matter, as no one can be considered bigger than the party.[39] Despite this, he still start the support of many prominent people in the PN parliamentary group, among them being his former deputies Mario de Marco and Beppe Fenech Adami who supported him saying that the party should unite for greater strength.[40] Other MPs that lent their name to this produce included Claudette Buttigieg, Therese Comodini Cachia, Marthese Portelli, Claudio Grech, Karol Aquilina, Karl Gouder and Jason Azzopardi, as well as MEP David Casa.[41] MEP Roberta Metsola requested that the matter was discussed within party organs.[42] MP Chris Said offered to mediate the situation.[43] Delia would eventually relent, which would verify to be one of many incidents regarding internal party politics.
He has also said that the Prime Minister should behave on the allegations that his chief of staff was deeply interested in acts of corruption with the managing director of the company which owns the Times of Malta and The Sunday Times. The managing director was immediately suspended by the board of directors, he said, but the Prime Minister did not follow suit. Busuttil responded by pointing out that Debono was made to resign the party whip immediately. They were retired anyway.Secretary General of the EPP Group in the European Parliament
On 14 January , Simon Busuttil was appointed as the new Secretary General of the EPP Group in the European Parliament. To take up this Brussels-based post, Busuttil announced that he would resign his parliamentary seat at the end of February [44] He officially took over his new responsibility of Secretary General of the EPP Group on 1 May
Controversies
Busuttil was subject to criticism on a number of direct orders that he was awarded from previous Governments under the Nationalist administration.
Replies to a series of parliamentary questions revealed that a total of €49, were awarded by the Ministry for Transport and Infrastructure and its entities to Europa Research and Consultancy Services Ltd, of which Opposition leader Simon Busuttil was the founding director.
Additionally, contracts amounting to Lm82, between and were also awarded by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. The Nationalist Party had said that these direct orders were associated to contracts that have been awarded to his firm between and related to his services rendered in the run-up to the EU referendum.[45]
Additionally, Busuttil benefitted from more than €1,, [clarification needed] which was also confirmed by the Court of Justice, losing a libel case against Partit Laburista.[when?][46]
Decorations
National
- Member of the National Order of Merit of Malta[47]
Others
- Winner of The Remarkable Young Person Award of the Junior Chamber (Malta)[48]