Muscat congratulates Delia on ‘beating Busuttil’, hopes he can get a grip on PN

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat this morning congratulated Opposition leader Adrian Delia for “beating [former PN leader] Simon Busuttil” and called on him to get a grip of the party.

Delia yesterday survived an internal vote of confidence to quell demands by his opponents within the party that he resign by way of taking responsibility of the PN’s massive defeat in last May’s local council and European Parliament elections.

The PN leader has faced a number of mutinies since taking charge of the party in September 2017.

“I think that like me and others, you watch Netflix,” Muscat said during a brief phone-in on the Labour Party’s ONE radio.

“It’s like when you’re watching a series and you think everything has passed but then something comes up again and leaves you waiting for the next season.

“When you think everything is solved everything, something happens and everything is turned on its head again and the confusion starts again. This is the feeling I get,” Muscat said.

“I’m not going to make predictions on what I think will happen, we can wait for the new season to come out. I congratulate Dr Delia for beating Simon Busuttil – no big deal, but he beat him – and I hope he now gets a grip.”

He said he hoped Delia could take control of the party because the country and the government needed an Opposition it could work with.

“One issue where we need clear direction from the PN is regarding the reform to increase gender equality in parliament,” Muscat said, adding that while the PN appeared to have received it positively, it had not communicated an official position.

The Prime Minister also touched upon European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker’s visit to Malta this week, where he was honoured for his “service to the EU and for helping Malta have an excellent relationship with the Commission”.

Juncker’s praise of Malta, he said, was a testament of the respect and good reputation the country had within the European Commission and the EU in general.

He said this didn’t mean that there weren’t instances when Malta is criticised by European institutions, insisting that in many cases, Malta agreed with the recommendations made.

Finally, he congratulated former EU affairs minister Helena Dalli on her nomination to the European Commission, insisting that she had all the necessary qualifications and credentials.

He said that while Dalli already had considerable support from various European NGOs and organisations, he hoped that there would also be support for her nomination locally.