Partit Demokratiku Claims Adrian Delia ‘Serving Castille’s Interests’ With Daphne Caruana Galizia Motion
Left: PD leader Godfrey Farrugia, Right: Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and Opposition leader Adrian Delia
Coalition partners in last year’s election, the rift between the Nationalist Party and the Democratic Party has continued to grow, with the PD once again accusing Opposition leader Adrian Delia of being in bed with Prime Minister Joseph Muscat.
“Adrian Delia in Parliament yesterday behaved like the police commissioner who carried on eating rabbit while the thief fled the crime scene,” the PD said in a statement, referring to the infamous scenes at Pilatus Bank hours after Daphne Caruana Galizia published the Egrant story.
This accusation stems from the PN’s decision to dedicate its next parliamentary slot, on 6th December, to its motion calling for an independent inquiry into the circumstances surrounding Caruana Galizia’s murder, as well as the resignations of the police commissioner and the Attorney General.
However, the PD is irked that the PN opted for this motion and not the small party’s own motion of no confidence in Minister Konrad Mizzi.
The PD motion calls for an independent investigation into Daphne Caruana Galizia’s murder
“Adrian Delia knows that Labour’s parliamentary group is divided and that some MPs may be ready to voice their dissatisfaction publicly, so he served Castille’s interests by proposing a completely different motion.”
The PD insisted that its motion was more pressing, particularly in light of a report by the National Audit Office which flagged compliance and procurement shortcomings with regards the LNG power station.
PD deputy leader Timothy Alden claimed pride had a huge part to play in the PN’s decision.
“They once again let pride come before good politics. They couldn’t bear to see us take the lead,” he said.
Parliamentary procedure allows the House to debate an Opposition motion every three months, meaning the PD’s motion of no confidence will be debated at March earliest.
Contacted for comment by Lovin Malta, Nationalist whip Robert Cutajar noted that Delia has repeatedly called for Mizzi’s resignations in recent weeks.
“We have been calling for his resignation ever since the Panama Papers broke out three years ago and we voted in favour of an earlier no confidence motion, so our position is crystal clear in this regard,” he said. “We’re not saying that the PD’s motion isn’t important but that we must first discuss the [Caruana Galizia] one, which incidentally was approved by the entire PN parliamentary group.”
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