Bitter sweet emotions for Borg as he bids farewell to Parliament

Foreign Minister Tonio Borg bid farewell to the Maltese Parliament this evening, telling MPs in his final speech on the adjournment that this was an arrivederci and not an addio. In an address with brought the curtain down on a 20-year parliamentary career, Dr Borg said there was no greater honour than to be elected by the people to be their representative in Parliament. He delivered his speech in the presence of his wife, children and some 60 friends who watched from the Strangers' Gallery. Dr Borg said he had not sought his new position as European Commissioner but had taken up the challenge at the request of the prime minister in the national interest. Over the past three weeks he felt very close to students, having, like them, to study hard, submit himself to examination and suffer the anxiety of waiting for the result. Dr Borg recalled his maiden speech in the House after the 1992 general election, when he had said that the outcome of that election was not somebody's victory or somebody's defeat, but a celebration of democracy. It was the principles of democracy which he had always sought to project in the House during the highs and the lows. He said he never meant to hurt...