Marlene Farrugia steadfast on creating new party

Marlene Farrugia will not be abandoning her project to set up a new political party insisting that her participation in a protest against corruption organised by the PN does not mean that she will be joining the PN.

The independent MP also expressed reservations on the PN’s no-confidence motion, adding that she would have preferred a no-confidence vote in energy minister Konrad Mizzi alone rather than in the entire government.

“I participated because I wanted to speak to the people including people who voted for the Labour party in 2013 who were present in the protest”.

Farrugia – who resigned from Labour last year -  insists that her participation did not signal allegiance to the PN but was prompted by the “overriding national interest”.

“If the protest was a flop, it would have sent a message that government can disregard public opinion. This is a government which reacts to surveys and numbers and one has to take that in account”, she said on the very serious issues related to the Panama leaks which have shown that both Mizzi and the Prime Minister’s chief of staff Keith Schembri hold offshore companies in the tax haven.  According to Farrugia, the huge turnout was a clear message to government to act.

According to Farrugia it would have made more sense if the protest was organised by civil society rather than by the PN as it would have been more inclusive but claimed that civil society lacks the resources to react immediately to events.

She also pointed out that she had already participated in protests organised by the PN; namely the one in Zonqor point and the first protest against corruption when she attended as a citizen while refusing to address the protest from the podium.

“I accepted to address the protest simply because the situation has become even more serious in view of new revelations.”

Asked point blank if her participation signaled that she would eventually join the PN, Marlene told MaltaToday that this was not the case as she had already refused Simon Busuttil’s offer to join the Nationalist opposition following her resignation from Labour.

“My priority remains the creation of a new political force which would enable people to think with their minds and not according to partisan loyalties.”

Asked whether she would be supporting the PN’s motion of no-confidence in the government, Farrugia replied that she would have preferred if the motion was presented to demand the removal of Mizzi.

She acknowledged that as formulated the motion represented a “dilemma” for her as it made it made it more difficult for Labour MPs who want Mizzi but are loyal to Muscat to leave to express themselves

“I had no say in formulating the motion and was simply informed about it by the leader of the opposition.”

But Farrugia is still considering her vote with regards to the motion noting that new revelations related to  the Panama leaks are constantly coming out.