MPs clash in heated TV debate on Robert Abela's leadership

TVM’s political debate programme Xtra hosted a heated discussion on Prime Minister Robert Abela’s five years in office.

Joseph Grech, President of the Nationalist Party Executive, was quick to criticise Abela’s administration, particularly its reliance on foreign workers.

“If there was anything Joseph Muscat started and Robert Abela continued, it was cheap labour,” he said. “The huge number of foreigners who came to work in Malta has created a foreigner-dependent economy. And now, we are creating policies to solve a problem of our own making.”

Nationalist MP Claudette Buttigieg agreed, noting that while Malta needed foreigners, this dependency had spiraled out of control.

However, MEP Alex Agius Saliba quickly fired back, defending the Labour administration’s decisions and directing sharp criticism at Buttigieg.

“It’s rich coming from the opposition to speak about the pandemic,” he remarked, “when Claudette Buttigieg, along with the so-called blue heroes, spent the pandemic period trying to kick out their leader instead of working for the people.”

Minister Byron Camilleri highlighted the unique challenges Malta faced under Abela’s leadership, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and global conflicts.

"Looking back at the last five years," Camilleri said, "which were unlike anything we had seen in the years before, with wars and the pandemic... when it came to deciding where to place the burden, we made sure not to crucify the people but to help them." He emphasised that the Labour government consistently prioritised the people during every crisis.

Buttigieg criticised Abela for adopting policies the Opposition had initially proposed while mocking them at the outset.

“It is not wrong to change your mind, but when you mock someone’s idea and then make it yours…” she said. Buttigieg pointed to the pandemic-era voucher scheme, an initiative Labour implemented but which had been proposed earlier by Nationalist MP Hermann Schiavone and championed by the late Robert Arrigo.

“We supported the voucher scheme because it was a good idea, but don’t shred our proposals into pieces and then call them your own,” she added.

U-turns or Tweaks?

The conversation turned heated over the government’s U-turns, particularly its decision to block, and later approve, a public inquiry into the death of Jean Paul Sofia.

Agius Saliba defended Abela’s approach, praising his willingness to adapt in any situation, when Grech jumped at him, arguing that u-turns are not “simply tweaks.”

"I would be frustrated if we had a leader who remained stubborn," he said. "Robert Abela listens and, where necessary, tweaks his decisions. That is the mark of a great leader."

"Tweaked? When a vote was taken in parliament to block the public inquiry, that’s not a tweak. The decision was only reversed after people took to the streets," Grech insisted.

Claudette Buttigieg joined in, calling the government’s handling of the issue “the most arrogant thing” she had seen in Maltese prime ministers. “A grieving mother begged for an inquiry. Had the PM not asked for the vote before the protests, it would not have been the worst thing to happen.”