The Nationalist Party has criticised Labour MP Luciano Busuttil’s online comments questioning what Malta should do with Libya’s frozen assets.

In a post on his Facebook page, Dr Busuttil had said: “Should we just hand them [the assets] back or should we be thinking about the Maltese who lost everything? Should we, before handing them back, assure ourselves that our oil drilling rights will finally be respected by the new Libyangovernment?”

Contacted by The Times, Dr Busuttil said he was merely posing a question.

In a statement, the PN said that while Dr Busuttil was free to ask questions, it did not give him the right to make a fool of the country.

The party said his comments were especially worrying since Dr Busuttil was Labour’s European Affairs spokesman.

“With Labour at the helm (Dr) Busuttil will be calling the shots and taking decisions that affect Malta’s EU and diplomatic relations. His online comments do not augur well at all. With such reasoning there is no doubt that once in charge he’ll make a huge mess – at Malta’s expense,” the PN said.

The Labour Party has distanced itself from Dr Busuttil’scomments.

Malta froze €377 million in Libyan government assets, of which €86 million belonged tothe Gaddafi family or entities in which they were majority stakeholders.

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