Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has reprimanded the Partit Demokratiku for its Facebook post calling parliamentary secretary Julia Farrugia Portelli a prostitute, describing such social media posts as “unacceptable”. 

“I’m disappointed at the way the IVF debate escalated to a point that a political party represented in Parliament formally issued such an insensitive attack,” Muscat said in Parliament today. “Although the PD apologised after a day, I have to state that such sort of language against an MP is intolerable.”

The Prime Minister claimed some people have adopted a two weights, two measures approach to sexism in politics, drawing comparisons with how a man had been charged in court for a Facebook post threatening to burn PN MEP Roberta Metsola alive.  

“Julia Farrugia Portelli isn’t the only female Labour MP who gets harassed like that whenever she makes her voice heard,” he said. “For example, the harassment aimed at Rosianne Cutajar whenever she speaks up in Parliament and on social media is unacceptable. The way some language is aired at female MPs gives Parliament a lot of food for thought.”

PD issued a derogatory Facebook post after its MPs Godfrey and Marlene Farrugia clashed with Farrugia Portelli as she was speaking in favour of the IVF law in Parliament.

READ NEXT: Partit Demokratiku Launches Social Media Inquiry After ‘Prostitute’ Post Goes Viral

Tim Diacono

Tim is interested in the rapid evolution of human society and is passionate about justice, human rights and cutting-edge political debates. You can follow him on Instagram or Twitter/X at @timdiacono or reach out to him at [email protected]