Education Minister Justyne Caruana said Friday there are no “hard feelings” between the government and book council chairman Mark Camilleri after the ministry withdrew a request for the latter to resign.

Camilleri had been asked to consider his position and step down after he posted a conversation with one of Yorgen Fenech’s lawyers on social media, in which he used foul language. The post went viral on social media.

The resignation request was sent by the Education Ministry's Principal Permanent Secretary, Frank Fabri (main photo, middle).

Asked by journalists why the ministry had first asked Camilleri to resign but later withdrew the request, Caruana said the reason behind the initial request was due to the foul language which he shared on social media.

“We took note of the language used on the social media post and it was not right. We spoke to him and expressed that these are not the right words to use,” she said.

However, Minister Caruana reiterated that she still has confidence that their relationship is stable now that the issue had been discussed and Camilleri apologised. “As you can see, we signed this agreement, there are no hard feelings.”

Asked whether she is comfortable about what Camilleri said regarding the public inquiry, Caruana promptly retorted: “The reason for the request to resign was due to the language he used, not the inquiry. That’s the context.”

When Camilleri was asked about whether he feels a sense of injustice since he was simply expressing his opinion, he replied: “we have now spoken and come to the agreement that I can have whatever opinion I want, say about anyone I want, as long as I watch my language. The Minister is still relatively new in the Ministry as well, so we still are in the early days of getting along.”

He did note, firmly, that he still stands by what he said regarding the public inquiry. “I still stand by what I wrote, obviously.”