Malta jury insists it was unhappy with decision to exclude author from EU prize

The Maltese jury for a European literature prize has pushed back against claims that it agreed with a decision to disqualify a local author from being eligible for the prize. 

In a statement issued on Friday, jury chair Albert Marshall said that there was “full written evidence” that showed that the jury he leads had reacted negatively to the decision to disqualify Aleks Farrugia from participating in the EU Prize for Literature. 

Farrugia was disqualified from participating in the EUPL because the media house that published his book, SKS Publishers, is affiliated with the Labour Party.

Marshall said that the EUPL had decided to discard Farrugia as a contender and informed the Maltese jury of that decision using the following words: 

“The Consortium discussed the issue further but unfortunately will have to discard Aleks Farrugia’s book. As an European Union-funded prize, the EUPL must be very cautious not to be associated with any political party.”

Marshall’s statement insisting that there is written evidence showing that the Maltese jury reacted negatively to Farrugia’s exclusion appears to contradict a statement made by a European Commission spokesperson earlier this week. 

The spokesperson told Times of Malta that while national juries could go against consortium recommendations if they justified their position, “the Maltese jury did not question the recommendation of the consortium in this case.”

Marshall has argued that the rules set for authors made no mention of political parties or the need for authors to be apolitical. 

Rules for national juries and book authors on the EUPL website make no reference to authors or publishers affiliated with political parties being disqualified.

Farrugia, the author of Għall-Glorja tal-Patrija (The Glory of the Homeland) has argued that the prize’s condition goes against his right of freedom of association.

Earlier this month PL MEP and acclaimed author Alfred Sant called on the European Commission to explain why writers nominated for the EU’s Prize for Literature were being disqualified because of the political affiliation of their books’ publishing house.