The man who made it possible for Labour leader Joseph Muscat to enter Parliament in 2008 will soon be off to Athens as Malta’s new ambassador to Greece, the Times of Malta is informed.

Sources close to the Office of the Prime Minister told this newspaper the government had decided to nominate Joseph Cuschieri as ambassador and the Greek government’s approval was expected shortly.

When contacted, Mr Cuschieri, currently an employee of the Labour Party, would not comment on his nomination. However, when pressed, he did not deny it.

He said Malta should not provide money to Greece

In 2011, while waiting for the Greek government to ratify an agreement permitting Malta to increase the number of its seats in the European Parliament from five to six – the seat Mr Cuschieri was to occupy – he openly said Malta should not provide money to Greece before they signed the protocol.

In 2008, following Labour’s third consecutive defeat at the polls, Dr Muscat – at the time an MEP – was elected. Mr Cuschieri had voluntarily resigned the seat he had held in the Maltese Parliament for 10 years, making way for Dr Muscat to be co-opted.

After serving as Labour’s head of delegation of MEPs in Brussels since 2011, he failed to be re-elected in last year’s MEP elections.

Following the results of the local council elections last April, Mr Cuschieri, 47, called on the Labour Party to take a series of measures to avoid a haemorrhage of votes after losing support in 27 of the 34 localities where elections were held.

He said the party needed “to listen to those who were always Labourite but were ignored”.