[WATCH] Rosianne Cutajar must apologise before being admitted back to Labour, Robert Abela insists

Rosianne Cutajar must apologise before rejoining the Labour Party’s parliamentary group, Prime Minister Robert Abela said on Wednesday.

The Prime Minister was asked by MaltaToday whether he regrets opening his arms to Cutajar’s return to the PL parliamentary group back in January. More than two months after opening the door for Cutajar's rehabilitation by the party, the fate of the independent MP remains uncertain.

Cutajar was forced to resign from the parliamentary group in April 2023 in the wake of mounting criticism over the publication of damning WhatsApp exchanges between Cutajar and murder suspect Yorgen Fenech from 2019. In one exchange, Cutajar told Fenech she would seek a consultancy with the Institute for Tourism Studies to emulate everyone else, presumably from the PL, who was acting like a pig at the trough.

The consultancy job was slammed by the National Audit Office. An investigation concluded that the consultancy was “illegitimate” and breached regulations.

On Wednesday, Abela told this newspaper that the PL’s parliamentary group had already discussed Cutajar’s return. The next step, he added, would be a joint meeting of the parliamentary group and the PL’s executive.

Abela said that from her end, Cutajar must be ready to apologise for her actions before she can be re-integrated, but stopped short of saying that she should pay back her illegitimate salary.

“If one doesn’t apologise in cases like these, it shows they do not really want to return; so yes, I think an apology is in order,” Abela said.

MaltaToday reported on Sunday that Cutajar's estrangement from the PL has angered a lot of activists with many fearing that the party will be punished by its own voters in Qormi in June's local elections. Cutajar has remained popular in the Qormi constituency.

Earlier this year, Cutajar dropped a libel case against blogger Mark Camilleri over the WhatsApp chats that he had published last year. However, she has not apologised for her actions, including the remark that she would pig out like everyone else, which also ended up being a skit in the Nadur carnival this year.