Nationalist Party leader Adrian Delia and his predecessor Simon Busuttil are expected to meet in the coming days to find a way forward in their strained relationship following a statement in which the party said that the impasse between the two had been resolved.
On Monday, the PN said that Delia would not be taking any further steps against Busuttil after he asked him to suspend himself from the parliamentary group. Busuttil had also been relieved of his good governance portfolio after an inquiry established that there was no evidence Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and his wife had a company called Egrant in Panama. Busuttil had built the PN's election campaign mostly on an accusation that had been made by slain journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, an accusation which was not proven by the inquiry.
Unlike Lawrence Gonzi, who had resigned from the leadership and from parliament after the 2013 election, Busuttil had stayed on as MP in spite of an even bigger electoral loss in 2017. Busuttil had also called upon Delia to withdraw his candidacy for the party leadership after Caruana Galizia had written about Delia's income tax problems.
Delia's decision, backed by the administrative council, to ask Busuttil to suspend himself from the parliamentary group had led to a group of PN MPs to publicly declare their support for Busuttil. On Monday, the PN said that the issue had been resolved with both sides standing their ground – Busuttil losing his good governance portfolio but staying on as a PN MP.
Gonzi as well as PN former deputy leader Tonio Borg and MEP Francis Zammit Dimech were involved in the mediation between Delia and Busuttil which led to Monday's statement.
Delia and Busuttil are now expected to meet face to face in a bid to iron out the situation further.
from The Malta Independent https://ift.tt/2vobR0v
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