People in Malta's south know exactly who forms part of the “establishment”, Robert Abela said on Sunday, as he sought to draw distinctions within society while also calling for the nation to "unite". 

Speaking under a large marquee in Żabbar on Sunday, Abela said: “You in the south know who is the establishment and what decisions they took. For them, the south was only good for dump sites”. 

Alluding to pre-2013 Nationalist Party governments, Abela said that the “establishment” built a power station run by heavy fuel oil and a recycling plant that smelled so bad that people could not even open a window. 

MEP candidates, as well as much of the cabinet, circled Abela as he spoke to a crowd that filled the marque and filtered out into Triq is-Santwarju.  Photo: Chris Sant Fournier

It was the people who kicked them out, he said. 

His speech made no direct reference to the Vitals inquiry or the political events of the past week, which have stirred up Labour grassroots support while also rocking the party internally. 

Since Monday, Abela and members of his government have repeatedly claimed that an inquiry into the Vitals hospitals deal was timed to damage Labour's electoral prospects ahead of the June 8 MEP elections. 

Abela claims that the timing is a ploy by the “establishment” - a phrase that he has used in an apparent reference to the Opposition. 

The Vitals inquiry was tasked with assessing whether government members involved in the now-annulled hospitals privatisation deal committed crimes in relation to it. 

Former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, current Deputy Prime Minister Chris Fearne, former ministers Konrad Mizzi and Edward Scicluna and Muscat's former right-hand man Keith Schembri are said to be implicated in the magistrate's findings. 

Abela stands behind pre-electoral cheques

Abela said the government will not stop implementing budget measures during the electoral campaign. That includes sending tax rebate cheques to homes, he said. 

The tax rebate cheques are a government pledge but critics say they are used by the government to leverage an electoral advantage. The Abela-led government sent one round of cheques weeks before the 2022 general election, earning itself criticism from the OSCE.

Abela dismissed that criticism, saying “election or not, you receive that cheque every year. When the PN was in government you didn't get a cheque, you got higher bills." 

Abela said parents whose children continue into post-secondary education will soon also receive a €500 cheque - the first of three.

The prime minister and Labour leader told the crowd that he wanted to work towards a united country - even as he attacked the Opposition and 'establishment' that he said was intent on destruction. 

“Don’t let anyone divide us – our country is strongest when it is united,” he said, before adding, “for them, lust for power comes first.  For us, Malta comes first, before all else."

All nine PL MEP candidates, as well as the Żabbar PL local council candidates attended the event that the PL dubbed “a mass rally”. 

MEP candidates and many members of Abela's cabinet circled the prime minister as he spoke to a crowd that filled the marque and filtered out into Triq is-Santwarju in the southern Labour stronghold. 

Economy minister Silvio Schembri called in the spirits of Maltese patriot Manoel Dimech and those who were interdicted by the church in the 1960s during Dominic Mintoff’s tenure as Labour Party leader. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier

In an opening speech, Economy minister Silvio Schembri recalled Maltese revolutionary Manwel Dimech and those who were interdicted by the church in the 1960s during Dominic Mintoff’s tenure as Labour Party leader. 

He said the “establishment” had also gone after them, too. 

“They sent Manwel Dimech to exile and let him die away from his country and family because he was in favour of the people,” Schembri said.