Prime Minister Robert Abela has assured that, while FATF president Marcus Pleyer "insisted" their dialogue remains confidential, work is "ongoing" and he (Abela) promises that Malta's rule of law will be reformed.

Ending tax evasion and monitoring of Ultimate Beneficial Owner (UBC) companies are the labour government's two main priorities to get off the FATF grey list, Abela said.

Abela remarked that fiscal morality is not being upheld by some public figures and thus ensures that this "current system in Malta" will change.

He was addressing a conference 'United for a more social Europe' organised by the EU's Socialists and Democrats (S&D) group in Malta.

"The government has the good will to reach the targets and we hope we will get off the grey list soon," Abela said.

Abela mentioned that the main obstacle the government is faced with in terms of these reforms are when they need a 2/3 majority vote in parliament.

The President of the Group of the Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament, Iratxe García Pérez said the group chose to hold its meeting in Malta as a show of support for "the reforms and the recovery plan".

"Malta is an example that shows that when we act united, we are stronger, especially as we go through what we have in the past months. We're very proud that a party from our group is serving as an example for other countries," she said.