John Dalli

John Dalli
European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Policy
In office 9 February 2010 – 16 October 2012
President	José Manuel Barroso
Preceded by	Androulla Vassiliou (Health) Meglena Kuneva (Consumer Protection)
Succeeded by	Maroš Šefčovič (Acting)
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Malta
In office 23 March 2004 – 3 July 2004
Prime Minister	Lawrence Gonzi
Preceded by	Joe Borg
Succeeded by	Michael Frendo
Personal details
Born	(1948-10-05) 5 October 1948
Political party	Nationalist Party
Spouse(s)	Josette Callus
Children	Claire Louisa
Website	Official website

John Dalli (born 5 October 1948) is a Maltese politician who served as Cabinet Minister in various Maltese governments between 1987 and 2010. He was European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Policy between 2010 and 2012.

Maltese politics

Dalli was first elected to the House of Representatives of Malta in 1987 on behalf of the Nationalist Party and since then he has been re-elected in five successive elections: in 1992, 1996, 1998, 2003 and 2008. He has served as Parliamentary Secretary for Industry (1987–1990), Minister of Economic Affairs (1990–92), Minister of Finance (1992–1996, 1998–2004)^[1] and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Investment Promotion (2004).^[2] During his tenure at the Ministry of Finance (the longest in Maltese political history), Dalli is best remembered for his modernisation of the taxation system through the introduction of VAT in 1994 and again in 1998.^[3]

He is credited with the creation of the financial services centre^[4]

In February 2004 Dalli contested the election for the leadership of the Nationalist Party but lost to Lawrence Gonzi who was appointed Prime Minister. In the new Cabinet Dalli was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs and Investment Promotion. However, he resigned after serving for three months from April to July 2004 following allegations of corruption in the awarding of contracts for medical equipment and airline ticketing.^[5]

All allegations against him were proven false, by the auditor general and by the police.^{[citation needed]}

Dalli remained a backbench MP and was outspoken about what was going on within the party.^[6] In 2007 the Prime Minister appointed Dalli as a personal consultant.^[7]

Dalli was re-elected to the House of Representatives in the March 2008 general election and returned to the Cabinet as Minister for Social Policy. His portfolio included health, the elderly, employment and training, housing and industrial relations. Joe Cassar and Mario Galea were appointed Parliamentary Secretaries for Health and for the Elderly and Community Care respectively to assist him.^[8]

In this Ministry, Dalli started a reform of the health sector which was interrupted when he resigned as Minister and as Member of Parliament on 10 February 2010 on his appointment as European Commissioner.^[9]

European Commissioner

Dalli was appointed to the European Commission on 9 February 2010 as Commissioner for Health and Consumer Policy. On 16 October 2012, he was forced to resign by Commission President, José Manuel Barroso, after an associate was accused of asking for 60 million euros from Swedish Match, the main producer of Swedish snus, in return for Dalli's help in changing European tobacco regulations. Dalli has subsequently denied any knowledge of the alleged bribery.^[10]

The OLAF report claimed that the decision making process of the commission services were not jeopardised, that no money changed hands and that Dalli was not involved in the execution of this action. However they put forward the conclusion that he knew what was going on. This was stated in the statement issued by the Commission to announce Dalli’s dismissal.^[11]

Dalli had insisted from the outset that the report by OLAF should be published, but the commission always refused.^{[citation needed]} Finally this report was leaked by Malta Today on 28 April 2012. Upon its publication, there was a chorus of criticism of this report, which was described by some as amateurish and biased.^{[12][13][14][15][16][17]}

On 24 December 2012, Dalli instituted a case in the European Court of Justice against the Commission to annul the decision by Barroso to force his resignation (Case T-562/12).^{[citation needed]} Dalli also instituted a case in the Belgian Criminal Court against Swedish Match for defamation on 13 December 2012 ^[18]

Back in Malta

Peter Paul Zammit, the Police Commissioner appointed on 13 April 2013, reinvestigated the case and Dalli was called again to be interviewed on 21 May 2013. On 8 June 2013, Zammit stated that there was no evidence to arraign Dalli, but that the investigations were continuing.^[19][20][21] This position was reiterated by Zammit on 27 September 2013.^[22]

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to John Dalli.

• John Dalli Official media gallery

v t e Barroso Commission II (since 2010) Joaquín Almunia2 László Andor Catherine Ashton2 Michel Barnier José Manuel Barroso1 Tonio Borg Dacian Cioloş John Dalli Maria Damanaki Štefan Füle Máire Geoghegan-Quinn Kristalina Georgieva Karel De Gucht Johannes Hahn Connie Hedegaard Siim Kallas2 Neelie Kroes2 Janusz Lewandowski Cecilia Malmström Neven Mimica Günther Oettinger Andris Piebalgs Janez Potočnik Viviane Reding2 Olli Rehn Antonio Tajani2 Androulla Vassiliou Maroš Šefčovič2 Algirdas Šemeta 1 = President. 2 = Vice President.

v t e Maltese Government 2008–2013 Jason Azzopardi Tonio Borg Joe Cassar Dolores Cristina John Dalli Mario de Marco Giovanna Debono Tonio Fenech Mario Galea Austin Gatt Lawrence Gonzi Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici Clyde Puli George Pullicino Chris Said Francis Zammit Dimech