Malta's ambassador to Finland Michael Zammit Tabona has resigned after comparing Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel to Adolf Hitler in a Facebook post, the Times of Malta reported.
In the Facebook post, the ambassador wrote that Hitler was ultimately stopped 75 years ago, and wondered who is going to stop Angela Merkel. He then went on to write that Merkel “has fulfilled” Hitler's dream of controlling Europe.
While the post has since been deleted, it has been shared on Twitter.
A statement by Malta's ambassador to Finland, appointed after making donations to the governing party (you won't find this in Politico Europe's interview with our foreign minister): pic.twitter.com/UTUrOOpT77
— Matthew Caruana Galizia (@mcaruanagalizia) May 10, 2020
Maltese Foreign Minister Evarist Bartolo pledged to apologise to the German embassy for the “insensitive” post. Bartolo also said that the diplomats should be reminded of what is appropriate to write on social media and stressed that Zammit Tabona’s comments on German Chancellor Angela Merkel were not representative of the friendship and mutual respect between Malta and Germany.
“In this regard, Minister Bartolo reiterates the Maltese Government’s commitment to deepen the strong and long-standing bilateral relations between the two countries”, the Foreign Ministry said.
Sources in the Foreign Ministry said the post was “embarrassing for Malta” and would be frowned upon in diplomatic circles. According to Bartolo, he asked the ambassador to delete the post as soon as he heard about it.
The Foreign Ministry accepted the ambassador's resignation with immediate effect.
Zammit Tabona had been non-resident ambassador to Finland in 2014.
