maltatoday | SUNDAY • 9 FEBRUARY 2025
6
INTERVIEW
Ramona
Attard: 'There
are legitimate
questions one
can ask about
Vitals inquiry'
The Labour Party's newest MP, Ra-
mona Attard, dismisses the notion
that her party has become more en-
trenched after the significant loss
of votes seen in the 2024 European
elections.
Attard speaks to MaltaToday in her
first interview since being co-opted
at the beginning of the year.
She fields questions on abortion,
and despite her known pro-choice
stance, she hesitates to state whether
she wants wider access to pregnancy
terminations in the PL's next elector-
al manifesto.
The former PL president is also
asked about her comment that end-
ing criminal libel was a mistake. She
believes there should be a penalty
that matches the serious harm false
statements can cause to people's lives
and reputations. Despite this, she
repeats that she doesn't want to see
journalists being jailed.
Attard defends the government's
attempt to alter citizens' rights to
request magisterial inquiries, as she
calls for caution when faced with the
notion that such inquiries prove vital
when police don't investigate certain
cases.
Like a growing cohort of her col-
leagues, she also questions a number
of aspects in the Vitals inquiry. She
seems unfazed when I point out that
the Prime Minister and defence law-
yers in the Vitals case seem to speak
about the inquiry in very similar
ways.
Labour's newest MP, Ramona Attard,
addresses key issues in her first
interview since co-option, including
her stance on abortion and the
government's proposed changes to
magisterial inquiries. She sits down
with Matthew Farrugia.
