Jason Micallef has been given a sweetener by the Labour Party after agreeing to bow out of the race for the position of PL Deputy Leader for Party Affairs.

Micallef’s new role comes two days after he dropped out of the Deputy Leader race following meetings with Prime Minister Robert Abela, who expressed serious scepticism at his candidate, and PL MEP Alex Agius Saliba, who has been strongly rumoured to contest the position.

PL announced today that Micallef has been appointed Special Delegate for the Administration on the Implementation of the Electoral Manifesto. He will report directly to the PL’s administration.

Micallef said he held a series of long meetings with Abela and Agius Saliba, as well as Ministers Ian Borg and Clyde Caruana, and that they agreed on an internal renewal within the PL.

“The plan is for the PL to continue renewing itself according to the current and future circumstances, in the best interest of the people of Malta,” he said. “We will agree on certain points and disagree on others but that’s how democracy works and that is the beauty of the Labour Party. Above all, we certainly all agree on the common good of the PL.”

During an interview with Lovin Malta, Abela strongly hinted that he doesn’t want the former PL secretary-general to occupy the key role as the party needs to look to the future, and not the past.