The Nationalist Party declared this evening that Parliament will meet only when all government MPs are in Malta.

The party was reacting to a press conference by Labour leader Joseph Muscat, who said parliament was being held hostage to the needs of the PN.

Dr Muscat said this afternoon that the fact that Parliament was not meeting today and tomorrow underscored the crisis the government was  suffering.

Speaking outside the Chamber of parliament in Valletta, Dr Muscat observed that the House will not meet until Wednesday because the prime minister is attending the EU summit.

This showed, he said, how the government had lost its majority in parliament. In the past, sittings were still held when the prime minister was abroad.

The government, Dr Muscat said, was being held hostage by a clique, and parliament was being held hostage by the government.

Referring to the prime minister's decision to call a PN leadership contest in which he will be a candidate, Dr Muscat insisted that what the prime minister needed was a majority in parliament, not within the PN.

He said urgent business was before parliament, and the House and the country should not be treated according to the whims of the PN.

He noted that Parliament would only have met four times this month, which was shameful. Parliament should not be above party, he said.

PN: Parliament will meet only when all government MPs are in Malta

The Nationalist Party made it clear this evening that Parliament will only meet when all government MPs are in Malta.
Reacting to Dr Muscat's press conference, the party said that while the no-confidence motion moved by Dr Muscat had been defeated, the relationship in parliament between the government and the opposition had changed. This had happened because Dr Muscat was trying to win votes in the House through parliamentary manoeuvring. 
 
The fact that Dr Muscat was today critical of the fact that the House had not met because of the EU summit also showed how the Labour leader was ignoring the dire economic reality in Europe, the PN said. He was putting partisan interests before the national one.
 
The PN said the opposition also tried to win power through parliamentary manoeuvring on May 12 when it insisted on a vote despite prior agreement that there would be no vote on that day. The opposition had demanded the vote because it knew that a government MP was away, the PN said.
 

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