House adjourned to 10 June, Opposition cries foul at ‘crisis reaction’

The Opposition has accused the government of not respecting an expected suspension of parliamentary sittings on the 22 May, saying Labour had adjourned the House on 15 May.

The government had already given notice in the past weeks, that it wanted an earlier day of adjournment, namely the 8 May.

But the Opposition had already reacted to that proposal, saying it was clear that the government wanted to adjourn the House earlier than the 22 May, as previously agreed, as it expected political trouble ahead from the magisterial inquiry that has embroiled former PM Joseph Muscat.

On Wednesday evening, Speaker of the House Anglu Farrugia announced at the end of Nationalist MP Claudette Buttigieg winding-down speech, that the House was adjourned to the 10 June.

The adjournment suspends the House throughout the next weeks of the European Elections.

Opposition Whip Robert Cutajar told MaltaToday this was in breach of an earlier agreement. “The government has shown clearly that it finds itself in a state of crisis, having single-handedly decided to adjourn the House today instead of the 22 May. It has used the power of the guillotine to halt all debate, a clear sign of panic inside the government.”

In comments to MaltaToday, government Whip Naomi Cachia defended the decision, saying the government had expressed its intention to adjourn parliament till after the elections, as the House "was always empty bar the first 30 minutes as everyone was campaigning for the elections, and the Opposition had disagreed."

“Given the circumstances we had continued with the parliamentary sittings, but now the chamber is always empty,” she said. “You cannot expect to reach an agreement when you have Opposition MPs walking out of the sittings and expressing their intention to engage in 'parliamentary disobedience'.”