Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1545479
Anglu Farrugia: 'I leave with a clean conscience' Anglu Farrugia was the longest serving parliamentary Speaker, whose crowning achievement was parliamentary autonomy. On his retirement from the post, he sits down with Kurt Sansone to discuss his 13 years in office 4 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 21 JUNE 2026 INTERVIEW ANGLU Farrugia was first ap- pointed Speaker in 2013 just after the Labour Party came to power for the first time. He was retained in the post for two sub- sequent legislatures, making him the longest serving parliamenta- ry Speaker. I sit down with Farrugia three days before the opening of the new legislature, with par- liament expected to appoint Carmelo Abela in the role of Speaker. There is no doubt when speaking to Farrugia that his crowning achievement over the past 13 years is parliamentary autonomy. It was an issue long talked about and one he was determined to see through. "I drew up a studied report which I passed on to then Op- position leader Simon Busuttil and then Prime Minister Jo- seph Muscat and my reaction was if this is going to be shelved again… I was willing to resign," he tells me. By January 2017 parliament started to function autonomously, which allowed him to introduce other re- forms such as the engagement of research officers without depending on the government and collective agreements for parliamentary staff. Farrugia has faced criticism from the Opposition over claims he was in cahoots with the government with some of his rulings. He does not wince at the criti- cism. Farrugia says he delivered around 300 rulings throughout his tenure and prides himself in the fact that they are decisions based on "procedure, applica- ble laws and facts". "Every MP has a right to dis- pute a ruling by appealing it. None were appealed and it is not because Anglu Farrugia caused anyone to fear doing so; they were not contested be- cause the decisions were [cor- rect]… My conscience is clean and there is nothing that both- ers me about any of the rulings I gave," he tells me. As for what he will be doing next; Farrugia says he is willing to offer a service if his country needs him. But while, his reply suggests we will not being see- ing the last of him, he insists there will be no return to pol- itics.