Prime Minister Robert Abela said on Sunday that he will defend Malta's nominee to the EU Commission Glenn Micallef with all the strength of the government and the country's institutions, after a complaint to the police was filed against the latter a few days ago.

The complaint was over the issue regarding the ethics breach by Ministers Clayton Bartolo and Clint Camilleri. The Standards Committee in Parliament had adopted the Standard Commissioner's conclusions which had found that Bartolo and Camilleri had abused their power when Bartolo's then-girlfriend Amanda Muscat was given a job she did not do.

The tourism and Gozo ministers respectively were found to have failed to administer public funds diligently, Standards Commissioner Joseph Azzopardi said in the report. Azzopardi found that Amanda Muscat, now Bartolo's wife, was first promoted from being Bartolo's personal assistance to his consultant with an increased salary of almost €62,000 and, later, this was upped to €68,000 when she moved to Camilleri's ministry in 2021. The report found that Muscat did not do consultancy work. By and large she continued to work as Bartolo's private secretary, with a consultant's salary, even when she was employed with Camilleri.

In a letter sent to Police Commissioner Angelo Gafa after the Committee's adoption of the report, NGO Repubblika, through lawyer Jason Azzopardi, expanded on a complaint it had filed against Ministers Clayton Bartolo and Clint Camilleri to the police, in which it among other things also called for an investigation into Malta's nominee to the EU Commission Glenn Micallef. Repubblika asked the Police Commissioner to investigate Glenn Micallef, then Chief of Staff within the Office of the Prime Minister, on the possibility of his involvement, collusion and complicity in approving Amanda Muscat's "Phantom job".

Speaking during a political activity on Sunday, Abela was speaking about youths, when he took aim at the PN. The PN "said they believe in youths. Do you know how their belief in the abilities of youths translated into facts? By filing a complaint against Glenn Micallef. They threw Glenn Micallef, the EU Commissioner-elect, before the police," Abela said.

It was Repubblika that had filed the complaint.

Abela continued: "first they said that Micallef didn't have political experience, did not have the skills to serve as EU Commissioner etc. Then, when his grilling too place before EU MEPs, Micallef showed what he is made of, and that day there was silence. But they couldn't stand him," Abela said, arguing that 'they' couldn't 'contain' themselves beliefs of wanting to attack Malta abroad.

Abela said after Micallef successfully passed that grilling, "where he brought the absolute majority of political parties in the EU Parliament behind him, they filed a complaint against him, a report to the police for them to investigate him criminally. To try and tarnish him a few days before being appointed EU Commissioner after being given the trust of the EU MEPs," he said, adding that this shows to what extent "they" will go to damage the country's name.

"I will defend Glenn Micallef with all the strength our country's institutions have and with all of government's strength. These kind of intimidatory tactics, personal attacks do not have a place in our politics." He described Micallef as a person of integrity.

During his speech, Abela also spoke about he recently inaugurated primary school in Msida, which, he said, is a carbon neutral project.

"It was an investment that, while emphasising education, also symbolises other factors that I believe should serve as guidelines for Malta," he said. He mentioned that Malta can have sustainable development. "There are clear choices, whether we want to stop the property sector in the country, or if we want it to continue growing, but differently. Continuing as we did tens of years ago is not the way forward and that is why we introduced regulations," he said, speaking about the licenses for contractors, among other things.

"I also believe we need to move towards new techniques of how one builds and operates on work sites. With the Msida school project, we created a template, guidelines as to what we believe development projects should be like."

He said that the school does not generate greenhouse gases, for example. This is done by investing in solar panels, he said, adding that it generates its energy needs from them. The project also utilized innovative energy saving measures, such as insulation, he said.

The whole school project, he said, saw a €24 million investment.

Regarding the wider education sector, he said the government ensured that all teachers have the best conditions and salaries, referring to the collective agreement signed earlier in the year.

This coming week, he said, the government will sign a collective agreement for public service workers, which, he added, will benefit 33,000 workers. "They will benefit from new increases in their working conditions." He said that sections of the public service that have had their own collective agreements signed will also benefit from this agreement, such as teachers, police officers and also nurses.

Abela said that over the past five years, the country faced two major challenges, the global pandemic, and inflation. "The latter is a challenge that we can today say we are managing to leave behind."

"We are in a moment where we managed to reduce inflation," he said, adding that the country is entering "an exciting time, where after years of defending against major international challenges... most of it is behind us and we need to look at a leap of quality moving forward."

This is why the government is working on the Malta Vision 2050 document, he said, adding that it is a vision with clear targets for 2035.

He also spoke about local plan revisions for particular areas in Marsa, to push forward the regeneration project for Menqa area. He described it as an area with a lot of potential.

Abela said that the Msida infrastructure project is set to start in the coming days. He took aim at the PN for coming out against the project, saying that the PN in the local council was originally in favour of it months ago. "A few months ago you were in favour and now to create negative sentiment you come out against? You never know where you stand with the PN."

He said the project focuses on traffic management, but will also be a project that incorporates open space. He told supporters that the project will be of benefit for the community and the country.

Abela also spoke about the labour market and the ageing population. He said there are around 1,000 Maltese and Gozitans more retiring each year than there are entering the job market. "The participation of foreign workers in the job market is needed if this country is to continue growing economically and socially."

He said that he is not saying that there should be a free for all where everyone can come in with no controls, and mentioned the recent policies regarding the regulation of temping agencies, and the decisions government took regarding the Y-plate and food courier sectors.

He spoke about the Labour Migration Policy being worked on, adding that only those who the work sector needs will come in.

Abela said that those who worked the concept of bringing as many foreign workers as possible, paying them low wages and change them often will stop.