Rosianne Cutajar said she will "continue to observe" after Robert Abela said she needed to apologise if she wanted to return to the Labour fold.

The Qormi MP made the brief cryptic comment outside parliament on Monday after Abela doubled down on his request for her to say sorry. 

Asked if she planned to do so, she said: "I choose to continue to observe." 

Cutajar was forced to resign from the parliamentary group in April 2023 after mounting criticism over leaked WhatsApp chats between her and businessman Yorgen Fenech.

The chats took place before Fenech was charged with complicity in the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia but at a time when Cutajar was defending him at the Council of Europe.

They also exposed her claim that she would seek a paid consultancy with the Institute for Tourism Studies to "pocket another wage" because "everyone pigs out".

A National Audit Office report later found the job was "irregular" and "fraudulent". 

Abela first opened the door to her possible return in January when he told Times of Malta she had paid a high enough political price and that it was time for her position to be "reconsidered". 

The following month she made a surprise announcement that she had dropped a defamation suit against Mark Camilleri, who had leaked the chats, linking the decision to her possible reintegration. 

But last week Abela publicly demanded an apology from Cutajar, saying that only then would she be given a second chance.

Over the weekend, Malta Today claimed Cutajar was left fuming after Abela "moved the goalposts" on her reintegration into the party. 

Abela reiterated his apology request on Monday, saying it would show humility, would "close the case" and allow her to be reintegrated.