Vince Farrugia admits election bid was ‘not a clever idea’

Vince Farrugia has admitted “it was not a clever idea” to contest the European Parliament elections with the Nationalist Party.In a frank admission, he told Times of Malta his foray into politics four years ago turned his tenure as director general of the Chamber for Small and Medium Enterprises – GRTU, into a “difficult situation”. On Monday, Mr Farrugia, 68, stepped down from the GRTU post he has held for almost two decades. His advice to any prospective director general is to avoid contesting an election while retaining the post. “I thought the country had matured enough to allow anybody who exercised his right as a European citizen to contest an election, and return to his job unhindered,” he said. But Mr Farrugia will not be disappearing from the public eye any time soon. He still has two years to go as a representative of employers and business on the EU’s Economic and Social Committee and may even consider crossing the rubicon to join the environmental lobby. In his words, returning to the green lobby will represent a return to his roots before joining the GRTU, when he headed the Institute for the Design of Environmental Action set up by then Labour minister Daniel...