Rosianne Cutajar back on the campaign trail despite no apology to PM

Independent MP Rosianne Cutajar is back on the campaign trail with Labour, despite not issuing an apology to the Prime Minister, in order to return to be allowed back into the parliamentary group.

Cutajar has been invited to speak during a campaign event by Labour’s lead MEP candidate Alex Agius Saliba on Thursday evening in Bormla. 

She has also endorsed a number of Labour candidates for the upcoming local council elections.

Cutajar has signed the nomination of candidate for Qormi council candidate Daniel Bugeja, while also participating in a campaign event organised by another candidate for the locality’s council Elke Cassar Sghendo.

Last March, Prime Minister Robert Abela said Rosianne Cutajar must apologise before re-joining the Labour Party’s parliamentary group. 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. 

She is yet to apologise, and remains an independent MP.

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.

MaltaToday had reported 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.