Updated 3.45pm, adds PN statement
Recent resignations from the Cabinet and the Labour parliamentary group hurt, even on a personal level, but they were a reflection of the culture of change which the current administration had introduced, the prime minister said on Thursday.
Speaking in a One Radio interview, he said the MPs involved had responsibly recognised that they may have committed wrongdoings and resigned.
"Since January 2020 we have brought in higher standards, a culture of change, something which the opposition never practiced," he said.
Abela was speaking in the context of the resignation of education minister Justyne Caruana and MP Silvio Grixti, while MP Ian Castaldi Paris said he would not seek re-election. Caruana resigned in the wake of a Standards Commissioner report finding breach of ethics in the way a contract was awarded to a close friend. Grixti resigned as a result of a police investigation into a fraudulent medical certificate while Castaldi Paris said he would not contest the general election after an investigation into his tax affairs.
Abela drew contrasts with the opposition saying that Bernard Grech had an analogous situation with regard to his tax affairs. He paid up, or someone paid for him, when he sought the leadership of the PN. Rather than resigning, he wanted to become prime minister.
A Nationalist MP had a similar situation regarding medical certificates, and yet no action was taken against him by Bernard Grech.
Abela said claims by Grech that the government was collapsing were laughable. The Cabinet, he said, was firm, united and able to take whatever decisions were needed to continue to push Malta forward. In contrast, the opposition was negative and the Opposition leader powerless to even act against wrongdoing in his own ranks.
The prime minister did not indicate who would replace Justyne Caruana.
Abela is taking people for fools - PN
In a statement on Facebook later, the Nationalist Party criticised Abela for keeping educators, students and parents in the dark regarding steps to be taken about public officials which allowed the former Education Minister’s abuse.
Abela, the PN said, was taking the people for fools when he said he had a strong, united and competent team when this week showed the opposite.
Abela’s team was so united that one of his MPs (Caruana) was taking action against a law introduced by his government and which she had voted for.
He also still had a justice minister who had been in cahoots with the alleged mastermind behind the Daphne Caruana Galizia murder and could not implement the recommendations of the public inquiry.
Because of this, the United States was takin action which Malta was not, including against former minister Konrad Mizzi and former OPM chief of staff Keith Schembri, who Abela did not at all mention during his interview.