The government feels that Malta should withdraw national honours conferred on any foreign dignitaries who no longer deserve them, a government spokesman said this afternoon.
The spokesman preferred not to go into specifics.
The government's position was requested after Labour leader Joseph Muscat said this morning that while he agreed that the Maltese honours conferred on former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi should be withdrawn, similar action should be taken with regard to former Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
The government yesterday announced that when Parliament reconvenes, it will move a motion to repeal the honours conferred on Col Gaddafi. He had been made an honorary member of the Xirka Gieh ir-Republika in 1975 by the Labour government and an honorary companion of the National Order of Merit in 2004 under the Nationalists. Ben Ali was similarly honoured in 2005.
The PL in a statement yesterday proposed that the resolution should be presented jointly by the government and the opposition.
Dr Muscat, speaking this morning, regretted that there had not been consultation with the Opposition over the issue. He said that in the Opposition's view, the honours conferred by Malta on Ben Ali should also be withdrawn.
Questioned on the Labour position throughout the crisis in Libya, Dr Muscat said the party had been careful not to politicise the issue. He reiterated that he had met representatives of the Libyan rebels, in Malta and abroad, during which they discussed what help the PL could offer as an Opposition Party.
He also hit back at criticism of the PL, noting that it was Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi who had visited Muammar Gaddafi in Tripoli at the height of the 'Arab Spring' although he reiterated once more that he did not wish to politicise the issue.
Dr Muscat made his comments when he visited the base of the Civil Protection Department in Shipwrights Wharf (near Marsovin) in Marsa, where donations for the Libyan people are trickling in.
The Labour leader appealed for generosity by the Maltese people.
The CPD will throughout today receive donations of food and water which will be shipped to Tripoli. It is also receiving monetary donations.