Parliament rises for summer recess

The Maltese Parliament has risen for its annual summer recess and will reconvene in ten weeks’ time on 2 October.

That means that in the next parliamentary sitting, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat will face up against a new adversary – with elections for the PN leadership set for 16 September.

It also means that Simon Busuttil’s speech on Monday, in which he decried the “total collapse” of the rule of law in Malta and poured cold water on Muscat’s calls for national unity, was his last parliamentary speech as leader of the Opposition.

Parliament’s final act before its summer break was to debate a motion presented by economy minister Chris Cardona to reconfirm the parliamentary procedures. The agenda for the next parliamentary sitting will be laid out at a later date.

Outgoing PN deputy leader Mario de Marco used the occasion to heap thank his fellow MPs from both sides of the House, noting that Parliament sittings had often been held in irregular hours so as to push the government’s legislative agenda through.