The European Parliament is determined to find out who was behind Daphne Caruana Galizia's murder, Antonio Tajani said today. 

"We want to know the name of the killer or killers, and who sent them," the European Parliament President said shortly after attending Ms Caruana Galizia's funeral service in Mosta.

He was speaking to editors at The Malta Independent offices, where the victim had a weekly column.

Mr Tajani, who attended Ms Caruana Galizia's funeral on the grieving family's invitation, said that the European Parliament had asked for an international investigation involving Europol to ensure no effort was spared in bringing perpetrators to justice. 

"The Maltese Prime Minister has not objected to this," he said. "In fact, he's in favour."  

Increased EP scrutiny was not an attack on the country, he assured journalists.

"What we're doing is not against Malta, it is in favour of Malta." 

MEPs are scheduled to debate the rule of law in Malta in mid-November, with a parliamentary delegation also expected to visit the country to investigate the rule of law, corruption and money laundering. 

"When a journalist is killed, a piece of freedom is killed with them," he said, noting that it had been decades since a journalist had been killed in Europe.

"We thought it couldn't happen again, and yet it has."