The Nationalist Party’s Parliamentary Group will meet on Monday afternoon, PN Whip Robert Cutajar has confirmed with The Malta Independent.

While Cutajar could not comment on the agenda, it is understood that the MPs will discuss the PN’s internal situation.

A source close to the PN told this newsroom on Wednesday that Adrian Delia, who is facing calls to resign after the EP and local council elections, was refusing to convene a meeting of the Parliamentary Group. MPs, the source said, were adamant on meeting, even if their party leader did not attend.

But Cutajar told this newsroom that he had received no request to convene the Parliamentary Group in Delia’s absence.

He also pointed out that the last couple of weeks were not ideal for a meeting of the Parliamentary Group becasue of the elections and also because of a hectic Pariamentary agenda that included several committee meetings and the Sette Giugno activities.

Cutajar said that, on top of this, a number of MPs had asked him not to convene the group between Thursday and Sunday this week since they had already made travel arrangements for the long weekend.

“I have spoken with Adrian Delia and the MPs and it seems that Monday is the best day for the group to meet.”

The Malta Independent reported on Thursday that Adrian Delia was holding one-to-one meetings with his MPs, starting with his predecessor, Simon Busuttil.

Reacting to news reports claiming that the Parliamentary Group had not met in over two months, in breach of the party statute, Cutajar clarified that the group had last met on 15 April. “Everyone knows that after that meeting Parliament rose for Easter recess and, soona after it reconvened, the governmet decided to cancel Parliament sittings until after the election.”

The PN Whip also explained that, in the April meeting, the PN group had set its agenda for a number of weeks. “In fact we remained active and took part in all sorts of Parliamentary duties,” he said.

He also argued that, given the busy schedule, the PN cannot pull its MPs out of previously established Parliament duties in order to hold a meeting of the Parliamentary Group.