The government has overlooked two key sectors that need immediate attention, namely Malta's climate state of emergency and its Rule of Law, Opposition Leader Adrian Delia said during Parliament on Wednesday.

Delia was speaking after Prime Minister Robert Abela gave a ministerial statement on the last meeting of the European Council in which Malta obtained the largest ever financial allocation.

When comparing the recent allocation of EU funds to Malta with the previous amount we must also consider the amount of money that Malta will have to give back, Delia said, adding that, while the funds have doubled, so has the amount that Malta has to return.

"Thus, after some calculations, we can conclude that the size of the EU fund has practically  remained the same this year when compared to the one in 2013," he said, speculating that the actual amount of funds from the €2.5 billion announced that will go directly towards Malta is only €600 million.

"Eight months ago, this parliament alongside a group of students, arrived to the conclusion that Malta has arrived at the point of a climate emergency. However, during this whole period, the government did not take any action."

He explained that this is not empty criticism. To the contrary, it considers the fact that the Mediterranean is one of the seas that is at high risk of experiencing increased water levels.

"We will not feel this, but future generations will," he said, mentioning that more EU funds should have been allocated to this effect.

Turning to the Rule of Law, Delia said that no amount of funds can give the comfort that a working Rule of Law can bring about.

He believes that the faults in Malta's Rule of Law are instilling fear in the public, especially when considering the recent tragic events relating to the 'attempted suicide' of middleman Melvin Theuma, as people start to question how Malta could have gotten to this point.

"We are living in a place that is not normal, but we have to ensure that we shoulder our responsibilities. Thus, I answer to the PM's call for the Opposition's help with legal amendments as we already have through the number of proposals we put forward," he said.

He said, however, that changing the law is not enough, while calling out the government for letting the situation get so bad that people seem to not care anymore as they have become accustomed to such occurrences.

"There are political responsibilities that should be shouldered by the persons concerned, as would happen abroad," he concluded.

Prime Minister Robert Abela reiterated his appeal to the Opposition to join the government on Friday for a very important vote on various laws.

"We want two-thirds of the room to be part in such matters, so I hope that the opposition will join us in this decision," he said.

Abela said that, "given the amount of funds allocated, the balance we have left remains very positive - even excluding the recovery and resilience package."

He highlighted the fact that "the government did not agree to any introduction of any new taxes whatsoever, but most importantly wanted to acquire as much funds as possible for our country."

"We will continue to strengthen multiple projects in our country especially through cohesion funds."

The vision that this government has is not to pay less, but to pay more as this will generate much more wealth.

Abela expressed that he wished he had the possibility and comfort of his predecessor back in 2013, "as it would have been easier to negotiate in the context of the figures of that time. Everything was in his favour, whilst everything was against us in our case when it came to statistics, but we still managed to acquire double the funds of €2.25 billion."

He mentioned that in the negotiations there were discussions related to the rule of law for member states to have access to European funds. "We are proud that as a country we have taken a stand and agreed that the issue of the rule of law should form part of the criteria in the allocation of funds."

"I am pleased that we have shown that we are capable of convincing with strong arguments in order to achieve a fair and honourable package for our country. The government's commitment is that now this investment in Malta and Gozo will be translated into concrete projects so that Maltese and Gozitans can benefit from this allocation," Abela said.