The European Commissioner for Health and Consumers, John Dalli, from Malta, responsible for animal welfare in the EU, claims that he was forced to resign, or face being removed from his post, by the President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso. Barroso denies that he forced Dalli to resign. The EU Anti-Fraud Office , OLAF, accuses him of having supposedly received a ‘commission’ from a Maltese entrepeneur who sought to influence a posssible future legislative proposal on tobacco proucts . According to Olaf, the entrepreneur had sought a "considerable" payment from a Swedish producer of oral tobacco, called snus, after which Mr Dalli would lift an EU ban on the product. (Sweden has an exemption from the ban.) In 2005 Dalli was forced to resign as foreign minister for his country following an alleged bribery case.

On October 2, 2012, Ong ADDA sent a press release that was reported in some media, denouncing the anomalous behavior of Commissioner Dalli when he dismissed a petition of more than a million European signatories calling for an 8-hour limit to be placed on journeys to slaughterhouses (8hours.eu campaign). He also ignored a Written Declaration which was voted by the majority of the MEPs to limit live animal transports to 8 hours. Moreover, he voted against the proposition even though the rest of the Maltese MEPs voted in favor. In light of this shocking behaviour Ong ADDA called publicly for the immediate resignation of the then Commissioner Dalli. The 8 hours campaign continues with the support ofthe Manifesto of Malta . www.8hours.eu