Prime Minister Robert Abela "got an F" for Malta, PN MP Claudette Buttigieg said, in reaction to the country getting its worst ever score in Transparency International's Corruption Perceptions Index a few days ago.

While in 2023 Malta received a score of 51 out of 100, in the new edition, which is for the year 2024, the country's score dropped to 46 - the lowest score Malta has ever received. The index rates 180 countries and territories around the world based on perceptions of public sector corruption, using data from 13 external sources, including the World Bank, World Economic Forum, private risk and consulting companies, think tanks and others, Transparency International said, adding that the scores reflect the views of experts and business people.

In an interview with The Malta Independent on Sunday, Buttigieg said that Malta's score is of concern. "This is about how people, other countries see us. This is very worrying because perception is based on facts happening in our country. It was a big drop in score. Robert Abela got an F for our country. He failed our country. But he doesn't care because he is concerned about himself." Malta got to this point, she said, because of all the corruption cases, "one bigger than the other." She said that people are so fed up of these cases that they aren't taking notice anymore as they have had enough.

She questioned the Prime Minister's actions at a time when this document was released. "If you have nothing to hide, why try to stop magisterial inquiries from happening?"

She was asked about Prime Minister Robert Abela's intervention in Parliament during a debate on the government's controversial bill on magisterial inquiry reforms.

His speech was "horrible. It was 1 hour and 4 minutes of an angry Prime Minister attacking the opposition," she said, "and then individuals one by one." 

The Prime Minister is claiming that the PN completely misunderstood the bill "and that we are choosing to group with extremists ... that some of us are extremists!" she said.

"He said very little about the bill. He said that he will give more strength to citizens, but this is absolutely not true. He sells it with a straight face, so much so that you begin questioning whether we are talking about the same bill. But most of his speech was a horrible attack, especially on us. When you are in parliament, physically there, you get this feeling of constant intimidation, especially when the Prime Minister speaks."

She said that the public is not very in tune with the magisterial inquiry issue. The PN conducts its own surveys she said, adding that the people are very worried about the standard of living and the cost of living. "They are not very in tune with magisterial inquiry issues, and this is very dangerous, because what the Prime Minister is trying to do is bring these changes in while people are distracted - the debate in Parliament happened just days after the selection of Malta's song for the Eurovision contest. It was a programme that was packed with political messages in adverts, about the new taxation system, about the migration policy, about Transport Malta, the film industry etc." While the people are distracted with one thing, something else is happening, she added.

"The Prime Minister, while speaking in Parliament did something particular. He was mentioning people he said are innocent and who were subjected to magisterial inquiries. He mentioned Chris Fearne, Edward Scicluna, the former Permanent Secretaries, but he did not mention Joseph Muscat. Bernard Grech stood up and told the Prime Minister that while he gave a long list, he did not mention Muscat. Abela said he had mentioned that there are others, but now these are considered as 'others'? He doesn't want to make it obvious that he is trying to protect Joseph Muscat and co. This is the famous devil's pact, that he had to protect Muscat and his bunch all the way." 

Asked whether she sees the Prime Minister's decision to mention the names of Chris Fearne, Scicluna and others during Parliament as an attempt to put pressure on the court, she said yes. "He doesn't care, he has no respect at all." The PN MP described Abela as a bully. "I was there when he told Karol Aquilina 'let's step outside'. That's the way he is." 

She was asked about the Labour Party's accusation that the PN has been taken over by an extremist faction. "This is absolutely NOT TRUE!," she said. "The danger of the narrative is that if you call a group of people extremists, people out there who do not read between the lines but take things as a fact are going to think that we are extremists or led by an extremist faction, which is absolutely not true, and they would feel entitled to treat this group as extremists. People would feel entitled to treat you badly because they think you are an extremist. This is why the Prime Minister using this narrative is so dangerous."

The government cannot remove citizens' rights

The government has argued that through its magisterial inquiry reform bill, it is not going to be taking away people's rights. The PN has argued otherwise. She said that firstly the bill being retroactive means it will impact a number of inquiries. 

Secondly, "imagine had there not been a magisterial inquiry request in the case of Vitals and Electrogas. We wouldn't have found out anything. Imagine a woman suffering domestic violence, having gone to the police a number of times yet nothing was done. All of a sudden that woman is killed and her family wants a magisterial inquiry to look into why the police failed to protect her. Under the bill they can't just go and request the launch of a magisterial inquiry. They would have to go to the police who would have failed to protect the woman first. This is madness."

She also mentioned a recent opinion article published by former Opposition Leader Simon Busuttil, who said that there is serious concern the reform falls foul of EU law. He had said: "EU law requires us, under article 2 and 19(1) of the Treaty, not only to safeguard the rule of law but also 'to provide remedies sufficient to ensure its effective legal protection'. Moreover, in a celebrated judgment decided in April 2021, coincidentally in a case filed by Repubblika in Malta, the European Court of Justice (CJEU) established the so-called principle of non-regression. This principle means that EU member states cannot introduce laws that weaken the rule of law."

Buttigieg said that the government cannot remove rights from citizens. Asked whether she believes a case will be opened in court once the bill passes through Parliament, she said she is not privy to one, "but it cannot stop here."

Since 2013 there have been many scandals, she said, "but we have forgotten the long list of things that happened. Cafe Premier for instance, but it was peanuts compared to the issues happening now."

"We have to continue fighting this fight."

A few years ago the PN had complained about political discrimination in the public sector. This is still the case today, she said when asked. "Not only that, but now there is also a different form of discrimination. Take the health sector for example, first you had Konrad Mizzi's group, then Chris Fearne's group and now Jo Etienne Abela's group. Look at the changes in CEOs here and there, heads of departments etc."

Country not discussing a number of major issues

During the interview, she also said that the country is not discussing some of the major problems it has. "Putting aside corruption and the magisterial inquiries reform, what are the other real problems in the country? We've been talking about an education system that has been changed too many times, we have not yet found the right format, and we definitely have problems."

"Healthcare needs to be addressed urgently. The country thought it was going to have new hospitals which we didn't get. Now the system is bursting at the seams. We also thought we were going to have a health hub, which we didn't." Traffic is another major problem.

The Nationalist Party has been highly critical on the reporting by PBS on certain issues. Asked what the PN, if in power, would do to better ensure its impartiality, she said it would be "really simple. Follow the law."

"Its an entity that needs to work on its own. We have to accept that a government does not control everything. It is not called the government broadcasting station, but the Public Broadcasting Services."

"I respect the people who work at PBS. I come from that sector and I know how difficult it is to be impartial and do things the right way. But they are pressured."

She mentioned the Eurovision song selection programme, and spoke of the "absurdity of having all those political messages, one after the other, between the songs."

"Why would the Film Commission promote our film services on our national station? That money should have gone to promote us internationally."

"They are now promoting the Public Service Expo. I filed over 30 Parliamentary Questions about the last expo. The Prime Minister told me it cost between €600,000 to €700,000." She said she got a call telling her that the said amount was only the amount paid by the Office of the Prime Minister. "So I filed a PQ with every minister, and listed it down. It was shocking. The Tourism Ministry, in the Public Service Expo, spent around €50,000 to have a stand. To do what? Public Service is about service to our public. That money is wasted promoting locally. If you want to send a message as to how we can better work with tourists and what our role in tourism should be, that is different. But if you're telling me 'we do this and we do that, this is how we are spending your money', you are spending a lot of our money to tell us that. These are public funds."

A recent survey showed that the Labour Party holds a 16,000 vote lead over the PN. The PN seemingly has made headway since the last general election, but now seems stuck. Asked what the party needs to do to appeal to more undecided voters, she said the party is currently addressing this issue. "There are bread and butter issues people are very worried about. When conducting home visits, people ask, 'what are you proposing', 'what is your solution', on issues like traffic, education, health." She said that the party has come up with good proposals on issues and is telling people about them, getting their proposals out there. 

She spoke of the work-life balance proposals. The party wants to introduce a total of one full year of paid leave between maternity and parental leave, providing essential flexibility for families, for instance. 

In a knee-jerk reaction, she said, the government announced that urgent family leave is set to be increased. It was increased from fifteen hours to four working days of eight hours each. The government had said that the first sixteen hours will be deducted from the vacation leave, and that the rest will be deducted from sick leave. "So its out of your vacation and sick leave. What did the government give you? Nothing. People are beginning to see this."  She said the PN's work-life balance proposals were received very well.

But those issues on their own are not enough, she said, highlighting that people she has spoken to say while they would like more time with their family, but question how they can keep up with the cost of living. "Now we are addressing the cost of living issues. For example, the COLA should not be taxed. That people with a low pension need help. We are making our proposals public." 

She also said that the party has long spoken of the need to help SMEs. "Why? Because the cost of importation has gone sky high. Who is going to pay for that? Its the consumer paying for it. So if we are not going help the SMEs, and the Chamber of SMEs is with us on this, it is a massive problem." She said the PN has proposals to address this.

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