The widower of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia on Sunday welcomed the prime minister's retraction of a Facebook comment he made in 2018 that the family were 'on a mission to derail' the murder investigation.

Abela retracted the comment during the course of a press conference on Friday. Abela was a consultant to Prime Minister Joseph Muscat at the time he wrote his comment.

"I can say that Dr Abela’s allegation was one of the most painful comments my sons and I have had to bear since the 16th October 2017," Peter Caruana Galizia said in a statement, a reference to the day the journalist was killed by a car bomb.

The family were at the time calling for a public inquiry into the causes that led to Daphne’s assassination.

"Since that date, my sons and I have strived to ensure full justice is achieved for my wife and their mother and to ensure that all the persons involved - and it is now clear there were many - are investigated, arraigned, and convicted," Caruana Galizia said.

"This will not bring Daphne back, but it is the least we can expect from our government - a government that has, for endless months, been hostile towards us and twisted facts, through persons close to the then prime minster Joseph Muscat, to imply that my son Matthew was complicit in the assassination and that I had a motive to kill my wife."

It was 'heartening' he said, to learn from the media that Abela had now retracted his allegation and that he had found in himself the courage and integrity to say so.

"My sons and I welcome his commitment to provide the Malta Police Force with all the resources it needs to ensure that all persons involved in the corruption and impunity, and in Daphne’s assassination and subsequent cover-ups, are made to answer for their crimes. This is why we have stated repeatedly, Malta cannot ensure full justice without a Europol Joint Investigation Team (JIT) and that we expect our Attorney General to set this in motion immediately."