Letters to the editor – March 16, 2026

Borg blows up his credibility

Eddy Privitera of Naxxar writes:

In one of my first letters when Alex Borg had announced he would be contesting the Nationalist Party (PN) leadership election, I had warned him that “politics is not a beauty contest. Nor is it a walk in the park. But a walk in a minefield”.

The Arctic Metagaz was badly damaged in an apparent attack in the Med.

Ever since Borg was elected by 40% of all PN members and won the race against Adrian Delia by a mere 44 votes, he has been exploding mines while walking through the political minefield I had warned him about.

The very last mine the leader of the opposition managed to unwillingly explode was when he made his highly irresponsible claim that the Russian LNG tanker the Arctic Metagaz “exploded within our country’s SAR”. 

Borg must have realised he had erred badly. 

He had already been informed by Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri that the explosion had occurred in Libya’s SAR. 

He was even shown a map to prove this.

So, about 90 minutes later, Borg corrected his original claim, this time saying the explosion “had occurred outside our country’s SAR”. 

Whoever may have thought Borg was honest enough to realise he had committed a highly irresponsible and stupid mistake could have never imagined that the leader of the opposition – hence, supposedly a prime minister-in-waiting – would activate another mine… and his credibility.

Within 12 minutes or so, Borg returned to his original claim, that the Russian tanker “had exploded in our country’s SAR”. 

Quite obviously, the extreme faction of the PN had immediately pulled his ears.

The fun had not yet ended. When the prime minister made his statement in parliament about the Russian tanker’s explosion, he referred to the “three versions” of the incident given by Borg. 

Robert Abela lambasted the leader of the opposition for his irresponsibility to claim the opposite of what really had happened and doing this when he had been officially informed by Camilleri.

Now comes perhaps the biggest explosion in the political minefield Borg has been walking through since September 6, 2025. 

Rising to try to minimise the fallout of his totally immature and irresponsible claim about the tanker’s explosion, he was heard saying: “Well, whether the explosion had occurred some distance outside or inside our country’s SAR does not make much difference.”

Has anyone ever heard such an irresponsible, politically immature and internationally dangerous statement from a politician, supposed to be a prime minister-in-waiting?

Borg still has not learnt the ABC of being not just a politician but a leader of the opposition aspiring to be trusted as prime minister in future.