President of Malta told to stay away from Caruana Galizia funeral

President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca and Prime Minister Joseph Muscat will not be attending the funeral of assassinated journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia on Friday.

As the country enters into a national day of mourning for the journalist, killed by a car bomb on 16 October, the funeral will see European Parliament president Antonio Tajani in attendance but not the country’s main leaders.

A spokesperson for the President told The Malta Independent that in a message received via a third party, Coleiro Preca was informed that her presence was “not desired” by the family.

“The Office of the President can confirm that Her Excellency expressed her wish to attend Mrs Daphne Caruana Galizia's funeral, however, the family, through a third party, affirmed that the presence of Her Excellency was not desired.”

Coleiro Preca, a former Labour minister and party secretary-general in the 1980s, was often a target of mockery and criticism of Caruana Galizia.

Caruana Galizia’s sister Corinne Vella set the tone of the family’s dislike for the political establishment when she dubbed the President’s call for national unity in the wake of the murder, as a sham. 

“Coleiro Preca was active in the Labour Party for 40 years, serving as its General Secretary from 1982 to 1991, a period during which criminal elements dominated the Party. Working in tandem with Muscat's government, the President is acting to downplay Daphne Caruana Galizia's assassination and to desensitise Malta's population to its political implications…

“What Malta needs is justice, transparency, and political accountability, and not for calm to replace justified anger and fear. Coleiro Preca's call for national unity can only entrench political complaisance and complicity. Malta needs to break the collusion between crime, money, and politics. It needs political action, justice, and change. This cannot happen under Coleiro Preca and Muscat's watch.”