Pressure mounts to grill Malta’s PM at EU summit, Dutch PM Rutte warns Muscat

Maltese prime minister Joseph Muscat’s presence at the EU summit in Brussels is sharpening demands that other leaders discuss the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.

“I hope that he [Muscat] puts the issue on the table himself – the news we get from Malta is dramatic,” Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte told reporters ahead of the gathering on Thursday (12 December).

“If he doesn’t put the issue on the table, I will ask it to him myself,” he warned, noting that heads of state and government from across the Union are present.

Similar comments were made by German Green MEP Sven Giegold, who said the EU summit should not remain silent about the rule of law in Malta.

“European governments must not turn a blind eye to the culture of impunity for corruption and financial crime in Malta,” he said, in a statement.

Giegold along with a handful of other MEPs had last week gone on a fact-finding mission to Malta, where “they found serious shortcomings and threats to the rule of law.”

However, an EU source told EUobserver that “It [Malta] is not on the agenda.”

A letter from the European Parliament’s civil liberties committee earlier in the day had also criticised Muscat for delaying his resignation until mid-January.

The president of the European Parliament, David Sassoli, had sent the letter on behalf of the committee.

But when asked if Muscat should step down, he said no.

“We think the prime minister should immediately resign,” said Manfred Weber, the leader of the centre-right European People’s Party.

“For us, it is a huge scandal that the prime minister is still in office,” he added, highlighting the political links between Galizia’s murder and Muscat’s inner circle.

Weber said he fully supported the protesters that had gathered in front of Malta’s embassy to the European Union.

Via EUObserver