In the family

The controversy surrounding Alexis Callus, the Governing Party representative who has actively promoted a meeting of Nazi sympathizers held on Saturday, could be indicative of Malta's current state of affairs. The meeting addressed by ultra right winger Norman Lowell took place in Safi, the town for which Callus is the deputy mayor representing the Nationalist Party. Callus confirmed to the Times that he was actively involved with the website (now offline) that promoted the policies and activities of Norman Lowell's racist party Imperium Europa. The secretary general of the Nationalist Party denied on Sunday that a member of his party was involved in the extremist get together in Safi. By Tuesday, he was admitting the involvement of Callus and as today's Times reports:

"the Nationalist Party has accepted the apology of a deputy mayor who admitted involvement in 'radical right' website www.uliedmalta.com promoting a right-wing activity and does not seem to be planning any action against him. Asked whether the PN was contemplating to proceed against Alexis Callus, the Nationalist deputy mayor of Safi, party general secretary Joe Saliba said: "Mr Callus was honest enough to admit having made a mistake. That's enough for me""

One startling fact carefully concealed by the Nationalist Party and overlooked by the mainstream English language media is that Alexis Callus is the nephew of Malta's PrimeMinister Laurence Gonzi. No wonder the Nationalist media rallied behind Callus who participates in internet discussions with the pseudonym "OperazzjoniC3" - a reference to the Nazi-Fascist plan to invade Malta during World War II. On the other hand, this incident could throw some light on why the Nationalist Party always resisted calls to change the party name. With a name like that and with the collapse of Christian Democracy in Europe, the Nationalist Party has an extensive identity problem.