Labour ‘taken over by business lobby’ after Konrad Mizzi’s nomination - Cassola

Alternattiva Demokratika’s chairperson has today claimed that Prime Minister Joseph Muscat had “finally got rid” of outgoing PL deputy leader Toni Abela by kicking up upstairs as Malta’s representative on the European Court of Auditors.

Writing on Facebook, AD Chairperson Arnold Cassola argued that contrary to what the prime minister stated on Friday, it was untrue that Toni Abela had made sure that the Labour Party respected its values, as in truth, he had “failed miserably.”

“Joseph Muscat said that Toni Abela had made sure that the PL stuck to its values. Wrong. Toni has strong social values. He tried to stop Labour from selling its soul to contractors but he failed miserably,” Cassola declared.

Cassola, who last week said that Abela’s nomination as Malta’s representative on the European Court of Auditors was a ploy to replace “a critical voice within the PL executive with a yes-man”, claimed that Muscat “finally got rid of Abela by kicking him upstairs.”

Abela’s nomination to the European Court of Auditors paves the way for the deputy leadership for party affairs to be open to MPs, after Labour delegates approved Muscat’s proposal to abolish a long-standing party policy that disallowed MPs from serving as deputy leader for party affairs.

Energy and health minister Konrad Mizzi has since submitted his nomination for Labour deputy leader and is expected to be the uncontested for the post. Economy minister Chris Cardona and tourism minister Edward Zammit Lewis have endorsed Konrad Mizzi, who has also won the support of the party’s grassroots. 

However, for Cassola, the nomination of Konrad Mizzi paves the way for the Labour Party to embrace business and shed its social values.

"The change is now complete. The Labour Party has been totally taken over by the business lobby," Cassola said.

On Friday, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat praised Abela’s “integrity and honesty”, arguing that his successor will have a hard act to follow.

“Toni made sure we respected our values … what he underwent in the last campaign and the targeted attack [by the PN] attempting to implicate him in a criminal act was disgusting,” Muscat said.