Prime Minister refers only indirectly to Daphne Project and jeering by crowd
Having spent the better part of the week in London for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), Prime Minister Joseph Muscat yesterday seemed to be having a relaxed day when answering questions on One Radio as part of his his Sunday political message.
He actually apologised for some background noise and explained he was at a children’s sports contest, otherwise described as a family do.
He only referred indirectly to a spate of stories published by the Daphne Project on major papers around the world. Nor did he refer to the novel and undoubtedly bad experience of being jeered by a small crowd as he and his wife entered a gala dinner held by Henley & Partners on Saturday to promote the the sale of Maltese passports.
On his Facebook page, he only uploaded a photo of himself eating next to the Queen.
In his interview on One Radio, the prime minister appealed for tranquillity, saying he had received many messages of support. He reminded listeners: “Don’t be worried; look ahead.”
He would always do what was good for the country, he said, adding that “all Maltese must support the institutions.”
He argued that those who first condemned and then asked for an investigation were doing things the wrong way round.
His appeal was to let the investigations take place. Only then , he said, could one draw conclusions.
The “best reply,” he said, would be on 1 May at the Labour Party mass meeting outside Valletta.
Sandro Kraus, one of the interviewers, linked this subject to the IVF debate, about which Muscat had spoken in the first part of the interview.
He claimed that the Opposition last week blocked discussion of the IVF bill to have a debate on what he called The Forbidden Stories (actually the Daphne Project).
Prime Minister Muscat replied that many people he had spoken to had disagreed with the ruling given by Deputy Speaker Claudette Buttigieg. On his part, however, he respected the institutions, even if he did not always agree with their rulings.
At the beginning of the interview, the prime minister defended the IVF bill, even though he said he respected the criticism of former Minister George Vella and Deborah Schembri, as well as others who may have reservations.
Showing he was following Friday’s Xarabank, he said he agreed with Mark Sant and Paul Sultana. One in six families in Malta have infertility problems and the Labour government was committed to helping them with their problems. It was not true, he said, that this bill would bring in the freezing of embryos. This was brought in by the 2012 law but only as an exception.
The Labour parliamentary group is united on this matter, unlike the Opposition, Muscat said, appealing for a rational debate. He added that he would always be in favour of what provided families with children. There are today technical means to help families attain this desire.