The day finally came when Joseph Muscat accepted to appear in front of the Commission of Enquiry which is holding sittings in connection with the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia.

Some news media gave us photos relating to this but chose to focus on the rather small group of activists holding up posters condemning the past prime minister, who courageously stood their ground even while risking a counter protest.

But it was left to non-photographers to describe in words what the photographers had missed – the stately approach to the Law Courts of Muscat, accompanied by his lawyers and those of the Party, flanked by some well-wishers and supporters and backed by a posse of security guards.

Comparisons with scenes from Il Padrino and similar movies come to mind, though one would probably go to scenes from movies from Latin America to get a real feel of the scene.

More, or worse was to come when Muscat entered the courtroom. Instead or alongside replying to the questions by the panel of judges, he coolly produced a sheet of paper and proceeded to read it out.

I know the proceedings of the Commission of Enquiry are sort of sui generis but I cannot imagine myself or anybody else being allowed to read such a statement in Court.

He proceeded to run down and belittle the entire proceedings, stopping just short of calling it a rigged kangaroo court and claimed it was an exercise in political spin?.

This claim was quickly taken up by the Labour spin machine that is trying so hard to bring to an end the Commission’s hearings which have been delivering nugget after nugget of remarkable quotes most of them quite damaging to Muscat’s own record, like those by Edward Scicluna, to give just one example.

I do not know the terms and conditions of the Commission but I have been asking myself why the three judges did not stop Muscat in his reading of his statement. I imagine Saddam Hussein and Slobodan Milosevic would have wanted to do the same. But they were the accused, then.

Muscat then proceeded to inform the Commission he did not intend to reply to questions by the two lawyers representing the Caruana Galizia family on the grounds these are Opposition MPs. No one from those who had appeared in front of the Commission had made such a claim.

Instead of ruling on the legality or otherwise of Muscat’s demand, a sort of compromise was timidly suggested – the two lawyers would write down their questions and these would be asked by the Commission but again Muscat, now on a roll, threw that out as well.

There the matter rests, for now at least. Of more import is whether the Commission brings to an end its hearings as Muscat’s successor, Robert Abela, the prime minister, has been loudly demanding. It was the prime minister, remember, who had set up the Commission but the coming weeks will tell if, having uncorked the genie’s bottle, he can stopper it back.

Abela is living up to his electoral claims to offer continuity to the Muscat years. I wonder what he has been telling his European counterparts at the Brussels summit these past two days. Even the mighty Poles and Hungarians, both threatening vetoes, at the end had to tone down their strident claims.

Abela is being harassed, not just by the rest of the EU but also by the Council of Europe and the European Parliament to bring more substance to his claim of reforms in governance than the vapid claims of reform he has been making. Otherwise, come Spring, the Grey Moneyval list awaits him,  and us.

Will Abela be asked to appear, again, in front of the Commission and will he appear wearing Muscat’s hauteur? Or will the Commission send again for Muscat for a supplementary hearing?

A year ago Muscat understood he could not go on and announced he would resignation but then he spent weeks touring the country and saying farewell. Now he seems to be saying the country made a big mistake in letting him go and that all the charges and claims aired in the Commission’s hearings are just political hot air.

What was raised up by Daphne’s assassination will not go away. No closure is possible and to curtail the ongoing discussion is probably the worst course to take.

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