Opposition Leader Alex Borg has announced that the Nationalist Party will table the recommendations of the public inquiry into the assassination of Daphne Caruana Galizia in Parliament, arguing that the country can no longer afford further delays in implementing reforms.

Speaking during a press conference following the verdict in the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder trial, Borg said Malta was at a "crucial moment" and stressed that the Opposition's priority was "the national interest, irrelevant of partisanship."

He said the Opposition had deliberately refrained from commenting extensively while the trial was ongoing, despite having opportunities to do so.

"As an Opposition we decided to closely follow what was coming out of the trial, but we took a step back from commenting," Borg said. "I believed that the best decision was to speak at the appropriate time, which was when the verdict was given."

Describing the assassination as one that "shook our country", Borg said justice had still not been delivered to Caruana Galizia's family nine years after her killing.

"We have faith in the judiciary," he said. "What we don't have faith in is the government of Malta and the politicians who ruined Malta's reputation."

Borg argued that Malta had developed "a culture of absolute impunity" in which ordinary citizens no longer felt protected from the state, adding that this same culture had led to Caruana Galizia's assassination.

Expressing solidarity with the journalist's family, he said: "We cannot even imagine what this family is going through. This family does not have justice not after just a few months, but after nine years."

He said the state now had to answer a fundamental question: "What will the state do to eventually come to the truth of this assassination?"

Referring to the public inquiry's conclusions, Borg said the state had been found responsible for creating a culture of impunity and noted that Castille had been repeatedly mentioned during the trial.

"This shows the severity of what we have in front of us," he said, adding that "Castille, under the Labour Party, was implicated in the murder of a citizen, daughter, mother and journalist."

Borg also questioned whether Malta's institutions had been capable of carrying out their responsibilities after the assassination, saying the issue had evolved beyond identifying the killers to determining whether institutions had functioned effectively.

He criticised Prime Minister Robert Abela's response following the verdict, saying the country had expected "direction, change and reform" but instead heard that "everything will remain as it is."

"A Prime Minister that for many years held himself back from reforms to have stronger institutions. Robert Abela is part of a Labour government that created this culture of impunity," Borg said, accusing the Prime Minister of having "slept on the recommendations of the public inquiry."

He called for immediate reforms to strengthen Malta's institutions and restore public trust.

"We need to see concrete action to save our country, concrete action so that the Maltese and Gozitan citizens have a normal country," he said.

Borg said that he had formally requested the Speaker of the House to reconvene Parliament for an urgent discussion on the implications of the verdict, insisting that neither the country nor Caruana Galizia's family could afford to wait any longer.

"Our country cannot wait anymore, the family of Daphne cannot wait anymore. We lost too much time," he said.

"At the end of the day, our country deserves the truth. Malta will not close this chapter until justice is served."