Labour MEP Alfred Sant on Wednesday abstained in a European Parliament resolution condemning violence in Syria as all other Maltese MEPs voted in favour.
The resolution strongly condemned all atrocities and violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in Syria, in particular by the Assad Regime, but also by Russia, Iran and Turkey. It was adopted by 568 votes for, 79 against and 37 abstentions.
Explaining his vote on Facebook, the former prime minister said sanctions in Syria were hurting the population. The conflict has left scores of thousands of victims and displaced huge populations.
But while the Assad regime had committed major atrocities, the way the resolution was presented 10 years after the conflict started "raises major political and ethical dilemmas" he said.
Sant said the European Parliament believed it had the compass to judge political behaviour in other areas using criteria such as human rights as defined in western Europe, which he also shared.
However, the EP interpreted such criteria politically and double standards prevailed with pieces of slanted information becoming part of resolutions.
Sant said that consistent, and not Eurocentric, positions were needed on a range of countries including Russia, Crimea, China, Hong Kong, Turkey, Venezuela, Myanmar and the Catalan representation in the EP.
Parliament still lacked such a position even if it was true that developments were still taking place away from its competence and which MEPs were being asked to judge.
In such circumstances, and to remain coherent with the values he believed in, Sant said he had no option but to abstain or be absent from the vote on resolutions such as that on Syria, even if the evidence of condemnable action by the state was very strong.
Sant’s position was criticised by Nationalist MEP Roberta Metsola who said on Twitter that her fellow MEP wanted one to believe he can remain impartial between "the fire brigade and the fire".
“Even on Syria, with all the blood-soaked evidence we have seen in the last 10 years. Even if it means propping up the Assad regime,” she said.