Prime Minister Robert Abela on Monday failed to directly reply to a question over whether Health Minister Chris Fearne would be nominated as Malta’s next European Commissioner.
Asked on the Xtra interview programme on TVM, Abela praised Fearne as a stalwart he could rely on, particularly in the health sector, adding that if the minister, regrettably, considered something else, decisions would be taken at the proper time.
The nomination of the next commissioner is due in less than two years' time,
Replying to another question on the quality of the individual members of his Cabinet, Abela said the results of the Cabinet could be seen from the praise for Malta by the European Commission and rating agencies.
He said it was his nature to demand more from his ministers, with all of whom he enjoyed very good relations, and there were no plans for a reshuffle, he said.
Replying to other questions, by Saviour Balzan, Abela said the public discussion on abortion and euthanasia should continue but they should be meaningful, not limited to politicians, and lead to decisions.
He reiterated that a bill to allow termination of pregnancy when the mother’s life or health are in danger does not amount to the introduction of abortion, He also repeated that the government does not have a mandate to introduce abortion.
But he also appeared to adopt a softer line than previous declarations outrightly opposing abortion, recounting instead that in the past three years he had met women who underwent abortions and could not access healthcare services, and he could now better understand their plight and realities.
Should abortion continue to be illegal, but then should those women who committed abortion not be imprisoned? That would be a hypocritical contradictory position. Society needed to decide where it wanted to go, Abela said. Having met people who underwent the plight of abortion, he felt more people needed to speak up without fear of being stigmatised.
Abela also expressed confidence in the police commissioner and the attorney general and criticised the NGO Repubblika for being inconsistent in its criticism. He observed that it was his government which made it possible for legal challenges to be made of decisions by the AG not to prosecute in certain cases, something which was not possible in the past when similar decisions were taken by then AG Borg Barthet.
Furthermore, he said, the NGO had called for the impeachment of magistrate Nadine Lia after a judge said she should be substituted in challenge proceedings in a case involving Pilatus Bank. But after that decision was reversed by the constitutional case, no call was made for the impeachment of the other judge, Ian Spiteri Bailey, which was as it should be, the prime minister said.