Prime Minister Joseph Muscat admits it was a mistake not to involve the Government Property Division more in Café Premier negotiations. This was in response to criticism made by the Auditor General (AG).

"We were still new at governing and I believe they weren't involved enough".

Asked about possible similair situations in the future, where someone would have, for example, a fast food place under a Schedule 1 building, would you use a fast-track approach to take the property back?  Dr Muscat said “We will do all that needs to be done. I think one must be more careful when releasing these concessions, what a person can and cannot do.The concession did not come out now, it came out years ago".

“I think the lesson we learnt was a procedural one”. Turning to allegations that donations were given to the Labour Party, he said that they have checked their books and no donation was given.

Asked what makes Café Premier special compared with other government leased buildings, the Prime Minister said – “Nothing. It’s a question of a property that was available on the Market. Where government was meant to collect money, money that wasn’t being collected due to the previous administration that wasn’t collecting this money. The property is iconic, bang in the centre of our Capital. I think we gave a good market value price, as the AG said. The AG recommended going to court and I disagree. The previous government had gone to court on the Malta Film Studios question and they spent 17 years in court”.

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said that the property in question is in a prime site and it would be a pity if it were not to be used to its potential, particularly in view of the fact that Valletta will  be the capital city of culture in Europe in 2018.

The Prime Minister hinted at the building possibly being used as an extension of the National Library.