Edward Zammit Lewis will be renouncing all of his current government consultancy roles now that he has taken on the role of Minister for European Affairs and Equality.
Asked by The Malta Independent about this subject, Zammit Lewis referenced the ministerial code of ethics, saying that he had followed it to the letter when he was minister during Labour’s 2013 to 2017 legislature and noted that he is determined to do so once again.
In this regard, he said that he will indeed be renouncing all of his government consultancy roles. “There is no doubt about it”, he said.
Zammit Lewis was sworn in as minister on Thursday at the Presidential Palace in the presence of President George Vella, taking on the portfolio of Minister for European Affairs and Equality after it was vacated by Helena Dalli who was nominated to be Malta’s next EU Commissioner by the Prime Minister.
Dalli herself was present at the swearing in, as was Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, along with Parliamentary Secretary for European Funds and Social Dialogue Aaron Farrugia – whose secretariat is under Zammit Lewis’ ministry’s remit.
Zammit Lewis only made it into parliament in 2017 after Edward Scicluna relinquished his 8th district seat, resulting in a casual election – even though he had been elected in 2013 and held the role of Tourism Minister.
During this legislature he was a backbencher, but was present on various parliamentary committees representing the government. In fact, he chaired the Foreign and European Affairs Committee along with the Public Appointments Committee, while also being a member of four other such committees.
The MP has in the past two months also been engaged by a variety of government entities as a consultant. Answering a parliamentary question, Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi revealed that Zammit Lewis was earning €200 and €400 a month from the Malta Film Commission and the Malta Film Fund through legal consultancy contracts signed for the duration of two years.
He also received €26,000 in a direct order to provide advisory services for the Ministry for Energy and Water Management while it had also emerged that he was earning €100 an by from Identity Malta for consultancy services – even after he had been paid another €26,000 for professional legal consultancy fees by the same Identity Malta.