Prime Minister Joseph Muscat had announced that he will be stepping down from the post of PL Leader, and Prime Minister last December, but said he will only step aside once a new PL Leader is elected.
As such, Muscat became a caretaker Prime Minister… or at least that’s essentially what he was meant to be, even according to his own statement. On 2nd December, Joseph Muscat said the six-week period between his announced resignation and the election of the new leader is the shortest possible interim period during which the election for his successor can be staged. He said on that day that during the month until he steps down he will limit himself to the day-to-day operations of the government.
And my-oh-my what a month it has been, and Muscat has become quite the jet-setter.
His first trip was to the Vatican to meet the Pope. His visit however was relegated from what it was meant to be, likely due to the turbulent situation ongoing in Malta and the constant revelations made in relation to the Daphne Caruana Galizia investigation in December, and was “no longer an official visit”, Vatican sources had told The Malta Independent. Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte had also cancelled a lunch meeting with Joseph Muscat.
Following this, Muscat then had to attend an EU Council meeting on 11 December in Brussels.
The Prime Minister then spent Christmas Eve in Bethlehem. Accompanied by the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Promotion Carmelo Abela, he paid an official visit to Palestine upon an official invitation by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. This was the third trip he took this month, but wasn’t the last.
His next trip was to Dubai. Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, his wife Michelle and their children left for a holiday on 27 December. This was his last visit of 2019, but not the last before he resigns.
The latest destination was London. A spokesperson for the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM) was previously contacted by this newsroom about this trip, but would not give details, or confirm the outgoing Prime Minister’s reported London visit, saying only that official visits are always communicated, when asked by The Malta Independent if the visit was an official one or a holiday. This followed a report by PN media, Net News, that Joseph Muscat was to arrive from Dubai on 30 December and would be leaving for London on 2 January. The OPM did not confirm if the London visit was to be an official one or not, but did not deny Muscat was to travel to London.
Muscat’s last two trips, Dubai – a destination linked to 17 Black, and the UK, where it was reported that he met a prominent lawyer, raise concerns about the reasons behind the visits
Given the chaos the country has been in since last November, The Prime Minister opted to spend a large amount of time out of the country instead of staying home to try and solve problems by taking the necessary action he should have taken to start with.
The Prime Minister should immediately publish the amount of taxpayer funds spent on these trips. He should also publish the amount of his family’s money spent, to see if it tallies up with his salary and declaration of assets.
When the Prime Minister announced his resignation, given his stubbornness not to step down immediately, should have at least stayed home to ‘handle the day-to-day’ running of the country, rather than break his word and instead spend his time travelling.