Finance Minister Edward Scicluna has quashed rumours that he will be resigning from his role as Finance Minister and Member of Parliament next month.
He was responding to a front-page story on the Times of Malta which cited Government sources as having confirmed Prof Scicluna’s retirement from politics next month.
In a Facebook post, Prof Scicluna said:
“After every successful Budget by a Labour Government, the Opposition always creates some incident or news story to divert public attention. Today’s pretend news on the front page of the Times is no exception. Ignore it. It’s a clear sign that they’re floundering after the Opposition leader and the Prime Minister delivered their speeches.”
Rumours have been swirling that last week’s Budget would be Prof Scicluna’s last. He has served as Finance Minister for the past seven years, while last week saw him deliver his eighth Budget speech.
Prof Scicluna, who turned 74 this month, confirmed with the Times that he informed Prime Minister Robert Abela he would not be contesting the next general election, which could still pave the way for Prof Scicluna to depart from his role as Finance Minister sooner rather than later, but retain his Parliamentary seat until the next election.
In addition, Dr Abela’s Head of Secretariat, Clyde Caruana, was co-opted to Parliament alongside former MEP Miriam Dalli and were both officially sworn into Parliament on 19th October, the same day as the Budget.
Dr Caruana, who is widely credited as having authored much of former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat’s labour force policies, is believed to be a top-contender to take up the Finance Minister position.
Dr Caruana headed JobsPlus during Dr Muscat’s administration, and previously held the position of Labour Party Mayor of Zabbar. He is known for having masterminded the youth guarantee drawn up by the UHM before the 2013 election, which was taken up by the incoming Labour Government, and was also the architect of the free childcare system introduced by Government in 2014.
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