[WATCH] Grech says government on a mission to silence Opposition, Abela says PN led by ‘de facto leader’

Nationalist leader Bernard Grech accused the government of trying to “silence” the Opposition, while Prime Minister Robert Abela said he would be standing up to “extremist behaviour”, when questioned by reporters on Monday.

“Today’s motion was an attempt by government to silence the Opposition, in the same way it has silenced individuals and institutions, and this is not acceptable,” Grech told journalists after Opposition MPs walked out of a parliamentary debate on Monday.

On the other hand, Abela defended the government’s motion, saying government has the duty to protect the country’s democracy and institutions from “unjust attacks”.

Opposition MPs walked out of parliament in protest on Monday afternoon before the start of a debate on a government motion intended to condemn Opposition MP Karol Aquilina's behaviour.

He said the motion was not only undemocratic, but a subversion of democracy. This is a government that has attacked our country’s courts, the media, our magistrates, and even former chief justices, because they criticised it,” he said.

Calling the incident, a “dark chapter in the Malta’s democracy,” Grech insisted the PM was using government’s parliamentary majority to shut up the Opposition. “This is why we decided against participating in the motion.”

On whether he condemns Aquilina’s comments in parliament, Grech skirted around questions, saying government has shied away from debating important topics, such as the theft of drugs from the AFM barracks. “This is a government which does not want to abide by democratic rules.”

While not mentioning Aquilina directly, the Nationalist leader did concede that “some words should not have been said.”

“But let’s remember it’s the government who is shirking its responsibility,” he told journalists.

Opposition led by ‘de facto leader’

Speaking to journalists, Abela slammed Grech for choosing to “abdicate from a democratic debate.”

“They had the opportunity to do two things: retract the insulting words Karol Aquilina used against the Speaker, like when he said he is not capable of thinking, or debate why they felt it was justified to use such words in the country’s highest institution,” he said.

He also quoted Labour media in saying the Nationalist Party’s parliamentary group was divided on the issue.

“You had a number of MPs who were not ready to support Aquilina, and you had a number who were. After hours of debate, they could not come to agreement on what they should do, and so they decided to walk out of the House,” Abela said.

Questioned whether all MPs agree with the stance the Opposition has taken, Grech said in the same way that government is united in trying to silence the Opposition, the Nationalist parliamentary group is united in wanting to be the “voice of the people”.

On criticism directed towards government on how it decided to halt the parliamentary agenda to condemn an Opposition, when other pressing issues face the country, Abela said government “does everything”.

“We assisted and guided people during a pandemic, we shielded the country during an inflation crisis […] but we also have the obligation to safe guard the country’s democracy and to protect the institutions from unjust attacks,” he said.