The European Commission must look into the deal the Government of Malta concluded with Vitals, said MEP Roberta Metsola in a letter to European Commission Vice-President Frans Timmermans.

"The questionable chain of events in awarding the concession to VGH also raises doubts about the Government’s steps to prevent corruption. The fact that this deal also impacts a critical sector in Malta, public health and patients’ rights, means that I would urge the European Commission to use all the tools available to look into the finer details of this deal" said Metsola.

Roberta Metsola took action and wrote to Vice-President Timmermans as the PN Parliamentary Group went to court to try to nullify the process in Malta. She said that in light of ongoing discussions on the rule of law on Malta, the European Commission must look into whether any EU public procurement related directives have been breached." 

She has also called on the European Commission to establish an EU-wide mechanism to monitor the state of the rule of law, democracy and fundamental rights in EU Member States this year, something which she will push forward in in the coming months with all other political groups. 

Roberta Metsola said that "it is no longer appropriate for EU action to only be taken on an ad-hoc basis, we have to prevent a race to the bottom and one way to do this is to establish this mechanism, with clear rules and clear sanctions to ultimately protect people's rights. No Government has the right to run roughshod over the rule of law and I am confident that the European Commission will take appropriate action. The situation is too urgent for it not to. We will not look away."

In reply, the Labour Party said that Metsola has not learnt the leassons from the mistakes she committed in the past.

The letter to Timmermanns shows that her intention is to throw bad light on Malta in European institutions.

It is not the first time that she resorted to nthis negative tactic, the PL said.

The government has no problem with an investigation into the VGH deal, so much so that it asked the Auditor General to do so in December 2016, the PL said.