It is in the country’s interest to keep Konrad Mizzi as minister, the Prime Minister said this morning as he continued to defend his choices for a Cabinet reshuffle.
Joseph Muscat justified the decision to keep Dr Mizzi in the Cabinet, albeit with no portfolio, insisting there was widespread acceptance that he was someone who delivered.
Both Dr Mizzi and the PM's chief of staff Keith Schembri are implicated in the Panama Papers, though they both insist they did nothing wrong.
“I have decided to retain his services and part of his redemption is to see to it that the power station project is delivered,” Dr Muscat said.
Asked how was it possible to convince people his choices were right, Dr Muscat insisted he did not expect people to applaud him but people had to be convinced by delivering results.
Reacting to the Opposition leader’s accusation yesterday that the Prime Minister’s decision showed he was personally involved in the Panama scandal, Dr Muscat said he would sue Simon Busuttil and challenged him to speak clearly.
Dr Muscat shrugged off a suggestion that by keeping his chief of staff Keith Schembri, he was contradicting his position when voting to remove Richard Cachia Caruana as ambassador to the EU in a no confidence motion when still in Opposition.
“The two situations cannot be compared because Richard Cachia Caruana held a public office,” Dr Muscat insisted. He yesterday justified Mr Schembri’s retention by saying he still enjoyed his trust.
Asked about the return of Manuel Mallia to Cabinet as Competitiveness Minister, Dr Muscat said Dr Mallia had been long enough out of office to show that he shouldered responsibility for what had happened in 2014.
On Jose Herrera’s appointment as Environment Minister, the Prime Minister said his job was to build bridges with green groups, even if this did not mean government would agree with everything they said.
He was commenting after delivering the opening speech on the second day of the Mediterranean Leadership Summit at the Hilton, organized by The Economist.