Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1066826
3 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 30 DECEMBER 2018 The PN found itself in a fix. Still unable to assail the La- bour Party's strong lead, polls showed the PN was also losing its core voters to abstention. After attempting to oust Bu- suttil from the parliamentary group in August, by the end of 2018, Delia's strategists ap- pear to have realised the party had no hope of moving for- ward unless it embraced the former leader's faction. An added complication for the PN leader was the per- sonal situation he found him- self in after his wife asked for a separation. It has to be seen whether the messy separation will have an impact on Delia's ability to dedicate his full en- ergy to lead the PN in 2019 as he faces his first electoral tests. The European Parliament election and local council elections in May 2019 will pit Delia against Muscat for the first time. They will also be the first elections to be held in the aftermath of Caruana Galizia's murder, giving jus- tice activists a chance to try and influence the vote. The Egrant relief Muscat has so far emerged unscathed by the interna- tional media onslaught and the domestic criticism from civil action groups born after Caruana Galizia's murder. Surveys conducted by Mal- taToday showed that Muscat continued to enjoy strong trust ratings in 2018. His trust rating averaged at 51.2% and he was consistently more popular than his own party. The Prime Minister's stand- ing was buoyed in July when the Egrant inquiry conducted by Magistrate Aaron Bugeja put paid to allegations that the Panama company belonged to Muscat's wife, Michelle, and that millions of euros were transferred by Azeri individu- als to the Muscats. While only the conclusions were made public, the Egrant inquiry dented Caruana Gali- zia's legacy and strengthened Muscat's hand. The Egrant inquiry's find- ings provided Muscat and the nation with some relief after the acrimony the allegations caused in the 2017 election. The conclusions also made it easier for people to dismiss serious revelations made later in the year linked to 17 Black, a Dubai company. 17 Black also forms part of the Caruana Galizia legacy, having first been mentioned in a cryptic post by the slain journalist at the start of 2017. In November, Reuters iden- tified the owner of 17 Black as Yorgen Fenech, a shareholder of the Tumas Group and in- vestor in the Electrogas power station. This created a toxic link be- tween the Electrogas investor, minister Konrad Mizzi and the Prime Minister's chief of staff Keith Schembri. The lat- ter two had included 17 Black as a target client for their Pan- ama companies. While Muscat was exon- erated from wrongdoing in the Egrant case, in 2018 he continued being hounded over the actions of Mizzi and Schembri, two of his clos- est allies. The 17 Black affair may yet come back to bite the Prime Minister despite the huge popularity he enjoys. A European shadow On the European stage the criticism towards Malta in- tensified in 2018. Muscat's refusal to axe Miz- zi and Schembri after they were outed two years ago as having opened companies in Panama, led to a conflation of arguments by European exponents that tried to link Caruana Galizia's murder with Panama Papers and the programme to sell citizenship to rich foreigners. Some exponents of the Eu- ropean Parliament tried to hammer home an image of Malta mired in corruption and money laundering, akin to a mafia state. While some of the criticism was justified, many times it was exagger- ated. Muscat may have enjoyed respect among fellow prime ministers and presidents at the European Council – he is a veteran of sorts around the table despite his young age – but is less liked in the European Parliament, where a press room was named after Caruana Galizia. The long shadow cast on 2018 by Caruana Galizia's murder is very likely to per- sist next year, at least until the May elections even as the country continues to enjoy unprecedented levels of pros- perity. NEWS Delia's trust rating as measured by MaltaToday surveys stood at an average of 20.1% as he struggled with internal party dissent. The criticism from activist quarters found fertile ground among pockets of Nationalist voters still loyal to Delia's predecessor