‘We will not abandon you,’ Rosianne Cutajar tells Robert Abela in emotional comeback

Rosianne Cutajar may have resigned from parliamentary secretary last year in the wake of a damning ethics probe but on Tuesday she pledged allegiance to Robert Abela.

Cutajar was invited to address Labour Party supporters during a campaign event in Marsaskala.

In the presence of the Prime Minister, Cutajar said her decision to resign last year was the “most difficult” in her political career. She applauded Abela and promised to have his back in an emotional comeback after the Prime Minister had shut the door on her last year.

Standards Commissioner George Hyzler had found that Cutajar breached parliamentary ethics when she failed to declare a cash gift from murder suspect Yorgen Fenech. She was eventually reprimanded by parliament’s ethics committee.

The former parliamentary secretary was embroiled as a broker in a property deal involving Fenech. The story was first published by MaltaToday.

READ ALSO: Prime Minister shuts the door on Rosianne Cutajar after Hyzler report

Cutajar will be contesting the election on the 6th District and her intervention on Tuesday can be interpreted as Abela’s way of rehabilitating the young candidate.

Cutajar showered accolades on Abela’s two-year stint as prime minister, applauding his decisiveness in the face of economic difficulties caused by the pandemic.

She then talked about her decision to step down last year: “I know the difficulty of taking a difficult decision. One year ago, I had to take the most difficult decision of my political career and resign from parliamentary secretary at a time when I was working on the cannabis reform. But how could I accept to be used by the PN to damage the Prime Minister and the Labour Party at a time when the economy was at risk because of the pandemic? I shouldered the burden in a mature way.”

Cutajar then drew parallels between the PL and the PN, telling supporters that Bernard Grech risked running on his own as candidates jumped ship.

“We will not abandon you Prime Minister. We will ensure this ship is brought to shore.

We will defend you when attacked by the PN. We will be there for you Prime Minister because we trust you,” she said, adding the PL was going back to the people with humility to ask them for their trust.