A heated debate followed in Parliament yesterday between the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition after Alex Borg accused the Prime Minister of contradicting himself by doing one thing in Malta and saying something completely opposite in New York at the United Nations.
The Opposition Leader said that the Prime Minister has been refusing to implement any reforms including reforms on unexplained wealth orders and anti-SLAPP legislation. The Opposition Leader pointed out that the government had only transposed the EU’s anti-SLAPP legislation and did nothing else to stop other SLAPP cases in Malta.
The Prime Minister retorted by saying that the Opposition Leader didn’t vote when the government depenalised tax offences accusing him of not voting to appease someone. The reference and the message of this point by the Prime Minister is very ambiguous, and may be even superfluous (and false) given that the law actually favoured those who were defrauding the tax department.
Alex Borg challenged him to disclose whom he is referring. The Prime Minister refused to withdraw his claims.
The Prime Minister then said that his government under Jonathan Attard, implemented reforms to prevent cumulative libel cases against a journalist, and said that no warrants for journalists will be introduced. Note that the cumulative anti-SLAPP provisions are also part of the EU directive so Labour introduced nothing beyond the EU directive.
The Prime Minister then made scathing claims accusing the Nationalist Party of proposing a law that will declare the Maltese government as a mafia organisation and said that he will not pass such reforms.
Replying to Beppe Fenech Adami on Ukraine, the Prime Minister said that he is skeptical that one side will win over the other, and he hasn’t change his position on this subject. He said it is his wish that Ukraine wins the war but realism shows him that this is difficult to achieve, he said.
The Prime Minister then said that there is a hole in the EU budget due to the war in Ukraine and this will impact the EU’s Cohesion Funds which Malta is fighting for.
On the Austrian paper he said Malta has some reservations. He will also disclose details on his meeting with BlackRock he said.
You can listen to the Parliamentary session here.
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