Tonio Borg

Tonio Borg (born May 12, 1957 in Floriana , Malta ) is a Maltese politician of the Nationalist Party and long-time minister. He was a member of the European Commission from November 2012 to 2014 .

biography

Study and election to the MP

After graduating from St. Aloysius' College in Birkirkara , he studied law at the University of Malta . He completed his studies in 1979 with a doctorate to become a Doctor of Laws (LL.D.). During his subsequent work as a lawyer, he specialized in the field of human rights and was also a lecturer in public law at the University of Malta. Between 1987 and 1992 he was director of Mid-Med Bank Ltd. in Valletta .

At the age of 17 he joined the Partit Nazzjonalista in 1974 and represented its youth organization (Moviment Żgħażagħ Partit Nazzjonalista) from 1983 to 1985 as a member of the executive body of today's Youth of the European People's Party . He was also President of the General Council of the Nationalist Party from 1988 to 1995.

In 1990 the appointment of Dr. Borgs as a member of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT). In this function he was also a member of delegations of the Council of Europe to visits to prisons in Sweden , Italy , Greece , the United Kingdom and Bulgaria .

After being in 1981 and 1987 as a candidate of the PN unsuccessfully for the House of Representatives had applied, he became in 1992 the first time elected a deputy and represented there first the choice Kreis 7 . In the parliamentary elections in 1996 , 1998 , 2003 and 2008 , he was re-elected as a member of parliament and last represented constituency 8 .

After the 1992 election, he became a member of the Maltese Environment and Planning Authority in September 1992, of which he was a member until April 1995. During this time he was first a substitute member and then also a member of the parliamentary delegation of his home country to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and at the same time a member of the Joint Parliamentary Committee of the European Parliament and the House of Representatives. He held this position again from 1996 to 1998.

Minister and Deputy Party Chairman

In April 1995 he was first appointed to the cabinet by Prime Minister Edward Fenech Adami as Minister of the Interior and held this office until the election defeat in October 1996. During the subsequent opposition period he was a member of the shadow cabinet Fenech Adamis from October 1996 to September 1998 as spokesman for the PN for interior affairs .

After the election victory of his Partit Nazzjonalista, he was appointed Minister of the Interior by Prime Minister Fenech Adami on September 8, 1998. In addition, he was responsible for environmental policy. After the government was confirmed by the parliamentary elections in April 2003, he took over the office of Minister of Justice in addition to the office of Minister of the Interior.

After the resignation of PN chairman Fenech Adami, who ran for president, he was elected deputy chairman of the PN at the Nationalist Party conference in March 2004. As such, he advocates maintaining the PN's conservative goals. The newly elected party chairman Lawrence Gonzi , who also succeeded Fenech Adamis as prime minister, appointed Borg deputy prime minister as well as interior and justice minister immediately after the party congress. As Deputy Prime Minister, as successor to Gonzi, he is also the majority leader of the PN in the House of Representatives (Leader of the House of Representatives).

As Minister of the Interior, he advocated EU aid for Mediterranean refugees within the framework of a European asylum and refugee policy , in order to solve the Maltese refugee problem and the European criticism that arose from it. As Minister of Justice, he signed Malta's accession to the Academy of European Law in April 2007 .

After the Partit Nazzjonalista narrowly won the parliamentary elections on March 8, 2008 , the re-elected Prime Minister Gonzi appointed him Deputy Prime Minister, Foreign Minister and majority leader of the PN in the House of Representatives. As Foreign Minister and successor to Michael Frendo , he is not only looking for contact with the European Union but also for relationships with Arab states in the Middle East such as Jordan , Lebanon and Syria . In addition, he campaigned for a migration pact to steer EU immigration policy. As part of a Maltese immigration policy, a central visa unit was created in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in February 2009.

EU Health Commissioner

In October 2012, Borg was proposed by Lawrence Gonzi as the new EU Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection . The former incumbent and compatriot John Dalli had previously resigned on fraud allegations. In the run-up to the hearing in the European Parliament, criticism was raised of Borg for his very conservative views on homosexuality , equality and abortion .

Corruption allegations against him were also on the agenda: Borg is said to have personally campaigned for the Kazakh ex-ambassador Rakhat Aliyev to enjoy a residence permit in Malta. Aliyev is accused of murdering two Kazakh bankers , extortion, bribery and money laundering , among other things . Despite the existing criticism, Tonio Borg was confirmed by the European Parliament with 386 votes in favor, 281 against and 28 abstentions. He took office on November 27, 2012.

On March 13, 2014, the EU seed regulation was rejected by the European Parliament with 650 to 15 votes, i.e. with around 97.7% of the votes against. Borg was the commissioner responsible for this until the vote. He was asked to resign.