Robert Abela has been derided as a “useful idiot” by PN MEP David Casa, who said on Saturday that the prime minister’s willingness to bring back Joseph Muscat was a boon to “criminals and the corrupt”.

“From beyond the political grave, Joseph Muscat is still on a rampage against any institution that threatens to hold him to account,” Casa wrote on X.

“Robert Abela had to reform what his predecessor undermined. In truth, he has furthered this assault as a useful idiot for criminals and the corrupt.”

His MEP colleague, European Parliament Roberta Metsola, did not comment on talk of a Muscat return to politics. Instead, when contacted a spokesperson sent a copy of the infamous 2019 photo showing Metsola refusing Muscat's hand.

Roberta Metsola refuses Muscat's hand at a 2019 meeting.

Meanwhile, PN leader Bernard Grech said Abela had his back to the wall, was compromised by Muscat and has lost control by attacking the courts. 

In a Facebook post, Grech said the prime minister was targetting the courts to save his skin. 

"When Labour is in government, the crisis within the party becomes a crisis in the country. What's Robert Abela scared of?"

The PN's withering assessment comes one day after Abela launched a scathing five-minute attack on the magistrate probing Muscat and others in connection with the fraudulent hospitals privatisation deal.

Muscat, through his lawyers, has sought to have the magistrate removed from the case. He alleges that the magistrate is biased against him.

The former Labour prime minister is also mulling a bid to run for MEP and Abela has made it clear he will not stand in Muscat’s way if wishes to run on the Labour ticket.

On Friday, the prime minister used questions about Muscat’s potential MEP run to echo Muscat’s concerns about the magisterial inquiry into the hospitals deal. He mused that the magistrate could be timing the release of the probe to coincide with the European Parliament elections, implying that the magistrate is out to damage Labour’s campaign.

The prime minister’s outburst also prompted a reaction from rule of law NGO Repubblika, which said Abela was now “Joseph Muscat’s puppet”.

“Muscat is seizing the Labour Party to ensure that he is above the law,” Repubblika said. “Abela’s behaviour is shameless. This is a collapse of the rule of law.”

The NGO accused Muscat of being a money launderer and said that the upcoming European Parliament elections would not shelter Muscat, just as his previous electoral victories had not “washed away his sins”.