VALLETTA, Jan 13 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Outsider Robert Abela was elected
leader of the Labour Party on Sunday, becoming Malta’s new premier after
Prime Minister Joseph Muscat’s downfall over the murder of an investigative journalist.
Abela, son of a former Maltese president, is seen as representing
continuity and in the election run-up did not criticise Muscat.
Muscat resigned after coming under pressure for failing to resolve the 2017 car bombing that killed Daphne Caruana Galizia, the investigative journalist who revealed information relating to several top Maltese politicians following the Panama Papers scandal.
A lawyer, Abela beat Deputy Prime Minister Chris Fearne for leadership of the Labour Party. He will be sworn in on Monday.
Considered an outsider who has only been a member of Parliament since 2017, Abela had previously sided with critics of the investigation into Caruana Galizia’s killing, but he notably did not criticize Muscat during his campaign. The 42-year-old is also the son of former Maltese President George Abela. He has promised to engage citizens and focus on social issues, such as affordable housing.
Muscat’s chief of staff, Keith Schembri; tourism minister, Konrad Mizzi, and economy minister, Christian Cardona, resigned or suspended themselves last year after being questioned as part of the murder investigation. All three have been implicated in corruption scandals. Schembri and Mizzi were also named in the Panama Papers leaks of 2016.
The European Parliament sent an urgent delegation to Malta in early December to meet with Muscat, as well as representatives of the financial authorities, the police and members of Galizia’s family, demanding quicker action in the investigations for murder and corruption.
The delegation chair, Dutch MEP Sophie in ‘t Veld, of the Alliance for Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE), was cautious about Abela’s election, saying she worried about descriptions of him as the “continuity candidate.”
“Well, let’s hope not,” she said on Sunday. “We will have to work with whoever is prime minister, but we expect that person to follow up on our recommendations. That’s all we want.”
On Dec 18, the European Parliament almost unanimously passed its “Rule of Law in Malta” resolution, initiated by the Greens/EFA group. The vote called on the European Commission to enter into dialogue with Malta in the context of its framework on the rule of law.
Among other things, the resolution noted that the European Parliament was “highly concerned that numerous other investigations into related cases of money laundering and corruption have not advanced or have not even been launched, especially with regard to the former Chief of Staff of the Prime Minister and the former Minister for Tourism.” — NNN-AGENCIES
