Comodini Cachia admits Busuttil was wrong to appoint MEPs as shadow ministers

Newly-elected PN MP Therese Comodini Cachia has admitted that outgoing PN leader Simon Busuttil was wrong to have appointed her and her former MEP colleague Roberta Metsola as shadow ministers.

Comodini Cachia and Metsola were appointed shadow education and foreign affairs ministers respectively as part of Busuttil’s major shadow Cabinet reshuffle at the start of 2015.

However, in an interview with the Malta Independent, Comodini Cachia admitted that the decision was a wrong one – as she and Metsola did not have a voice in the Maltese Parliament.

“I used to meet up with and speak with educators and parents on a frequent basis, but then I wasn’t able to speak out in the Maltese Parliament,” she said. “If it were up to me, I wouldn’t have given shadow ministerial roles to MEPs because shadow ministers should be able to deliver the final punch-line in Parliament.” 

Comodini Cachia will take up a seat in the Maltese Parliament as of the next legislature, after reversing her decision to relinquish her seat in the wake of outrage from PN supporters.

In her interview, Comodini Cachia described the outrage from her supporters in the wake of her original decision as “the most humbling experience in my political life”.

“After I had made the wrong decision to keep my seat in the European Parliament, many sincere and genuine people called me up to question whether they will still be able to speak to me as easily and as frequently as they had while I was in Malta,” she said. “I believe that it takes a lot of courage to reverse a decision like that in the wake of criticism from sincere people, but I did and I admitted my mistake. Indeed, I am so certain of my decision that I have already booked public meetings in kazini in the fourth and eighth districts to meet people.”