Malta's top political leaders this morning remembered the Sette Giugno bread riots in 1919 with a wreath-laying ceremony at the foot of the monument to the four victims of those events at the Palace Square in Valletta.

The event was the first official function for new MLP leader Joseph Muscat, who was congratulated by the Prime Minister as MPs filed into the Palace once the ceremony ended.

In a speech House Speaker Louis Galea said that should the Lisbon Treaty come into force in January, the responsibilities of the national Parliament in the context of EU law-making would increase considerably. The much needed reform of the administrative structures of the House, including its funding, was now urgent, he said. He promised to give this area his personal attention during his time in the Chair.

The 1919 riots are seen as having been the spark which led to the Legislative Assembly - the forerunner of Parliament, in 1921.

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