Opposition leader Bernard Grech has said the PN will defend the rights of everyone "without exception", in a social media post sources say was intended as a rebuke to his MP Edwin Vassallo.

Vassallo on Thursday lambasted European Commissioner Helena Dalli’s plan to link EU funds to respect of LGBT rights. 

Speaking to POLITICO ahead of the launch of a strategy intended to protect gay rights across the bloc, Dalli said that a mechanism designed to make member states adhere to the rule of law - which had been agreed on as part of negotiations over the EU’s long-term budget - should be used to uphold EU values on the issue.

This comment did not go down well with Vassallo, who in a Facebook post on Thursday dubbed Dalli’s proposal “Marxism at its best”.

“This attitude is not compatible with the value of liberty but is entirely a Marxist attitude in favour of uniformity, rather than respect diversity. This is a democratic dictatorship, totalitarianism at its best,” Vassallo wrote on Facebook.

Those harsh words did not impress his party leader, sources told Times of Malta. 

In a post of his own on Friday morning, Grech wrote that “putting people at the centre of our politics means respecting and actively defending the dignity and fundamental human rights of every individual. With no exception.”

Grech “completely disassociated” himself and the Nationalist Party from comments made to the contrary.

Although Grech did not say who his post was directed to, sources told Times of Malta that it was intended as a response to Vassallo's criticism of Dalli's plan. 

Vassallo and Dalli have been at loggerheads in the past: Vassallo was the only MP to vote against the Marriage Equality Act, which Dalli spearheaded as Equality Minister, and was also the only MP to vote against key updates to domestic violence laws, which were also led by Dalli.