Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said that the government is welcoming the Panama Papers committee because it has “nothing to hide”.

Dr Muscat said this in response to journalists’ questions during a joint press conference with European Parliament (EP) President Martin Schulz, during which Mr Schulz declared that the Panama Papers scandal was not a bone of contention between EU institutions and the government of Malta.

The Panama Papers revealed that no-portfolio Minister Konrad Mizzi and the Prime Minister’s chief of staff were found to have a secret company registered in Panama sheltered by a New Zealand trust. A number of politicians and the world’s elite were named in the scandal, revealed by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, with which The Malta Independent is a partner.

Dr Mizzi has since apologised and said he did not have bad intentions. This scandal however has led to the setting up of an EP committee to investigate EU member states’ role in the affair and whether more should be done.

Dr Muscat added that the Maltese government is cooperating positively with EU institutions in their work against tax evasion.

Dr Muscat said that he hopes the Panama Papers committee “on their tour of countries, will have fruitful exchanges”.

Mr Schulz, in Malta for bilateral meetings ahead of Malta’s 2017 EU Council presidency, said that he is “optimistic” about Malta’s turn to chair the EU Council, saying that he is confident in the government’s abilities to tackle and address key issues plaguing the 28-nation bloc.

The single market, migration and refugees, the digital economy and unemployment are among such key issues.

Dr Muscat said that while Malta’s priorities are aligned with the EU’s, common grounds needs to be found on a wider range of issues.

He said that Malta will not overpromise, but that the government is “pragmatic” and “realistic” in its approach to the EU Council presidency. He added that the government will nonetheless try to “overachieve”.

What is the establishment?

When asked by members of the press about how Dr Muscat can claim that he does not form part of the establishment, when he is the Prime Minister of Malta and notoriously pro-business, Dr Muscat said that one cannot be part of the establishment when there is a constant effort not to rely on some status as the political elite, but through efforts to be “agents of change” such as banning gay conversion therapy, this makes the present day government anti-establishment.

Contrasting what Dr Muscat said, Mr Schulz proclaimed that if “establishing the EU democracy, establishing rule of law, establishing the recognition of human rights and dignity” makes him part of the establishment, he is proud to be labelled as such."