Joseph Muscat

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Joseph Muscat, 2018

Joseph Muscat (born January 22, 1974 in Pietà ) is a Maltese politician and former chairman of the social democratic Partit Laburista (PL) . He was Prime Minister of Malta from March 11, 2013 to January 13, 2020 . On November 30, 2019, he announced his resignation for January 2020, following a corruption scandal and involvement in the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia . From January 1 to June 30, 2017, Muscat was President of the Council of the European Union for half a year .

Professional career

Muscat studied business administration and political science at the University of Malta until 1996 , where he then completed a Masters in European Studies. In 2007 he received his PhD in Management from the University of Bristol .

Muscat worked as a journalist for Super One Radio , the radio station of the Partit Laburista, as well as for the party's own television station Super One TV , whose deputy news chief he became in 1996. From 2001 to 2004 he was the editor of the party’s internet newspaper maltastar.com .

Political career

Muscat was a member of the Labor Youth Forum , the youth organization of his party, whose finance secretary (1994-1997) and executive chairman (1997) he was. Later he was secretary for education in the Partit Laburista himself (2001-2003) and headed the party congress in 2003. During the government phase of the PL 1996-1998 he was a member of the National Commission for Tax Ethics.

In 2003 he was appointed as a member of a working group on PL policy towards the European Union , which - after the party had recently campaigned for a no in the referendum on planned EU accession - developed a more friendly policy towards the EU institutions. In November of that year, Muscat was also run as a PL candidate for the 2004 European elections , the first in which Malta took part.

In 2004, Muscat was elected to the European Parliament as one of five Maltese MPs with 36,958 votes , making it the most elected candidate of his party. In Parliament he belonged to the political group of the Party of European Socialists and was Vice-Chairman of the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs .

After the defeat of the PL in the Maltese parliamentary elections in March 2008 and the resignation of party leader Alfred Sant , Muscat was elected as his successor on June 6, 2008. Thereupon he resigned from the European Parliament on September 25, 2008, in order to replace Joseph Cuschieri in the Maltese House of Representatives on October 1, where he took on the role of opposition leader. Muscat's successor as MEP was Glenn Bedingfield .

Joseph Muscat won a majority in the general election on March 9, 2013. He is the second youngest Prime Minister in Malta's history and the youngest since the end of British colonial rule over Malta in 1964. In 2015 he was awarded the Grand Cross of the Federal Cross of Merit. In May 2017, allegations of corruption against Muscat and his family became known as part of the so-called Malta Papers . Due to opposition criticism, Muscat then called early elections , which were held on June 3, 2017 . Since his party was able to defend its absolute majority, Muscat was sworn in for a second term on June 5, 2017.

As his country’s prime minister, Muscat was President of the Council of the European Union from January 1 to June 30, 2017 , Malta's first presidency since it joined the EU in 2004.

The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project selected Joseph Muscat as Man of the Year 2019 for promoting crime and corruption.

Panama Papers and the Galizia Case

From 2013, the government of Joseph Muscat became involved in the affair and scandals in connection with the so-called Panama Papers . The first allegations of corruption were directed against the energy and health minister Konrad Mizzi in 2013 . The investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia took up the allegations and exposed them. In her blog, she soon expanded the allegations to include the Prime Minister's wife, whereupon Muscat called new elections - with a re-establishment of his government.

On October 16, 2017, Galizia was killed by a car bomb. In the months that followed, the government came under increasing suspicion of having a causal connection with this murder. The refusal to admit this sparked a government crisis and resulted in some resignations from ministers and other senior officials: Muscat's former chief of staff Keith Schembri resigned from his post in late November 2019, as did Tourism Minister Konrad Mizzi and Economy Minister Chris Cardona .

On November 30, 2019, official charges were brought against businessman Yorgen Fenech , who, according to the Panama Papers, had transferred large sums of money to several members of the government into hidden accounts. On the same day, Muscat announced its resignation for January 2020.

However, daily demonstrations continue calling for Muscat to resign immediately. The EU Commissioner Věra Jourová warned the government not to interfere in the investigation. A delegation from the EU Parliament expressed "doubts about the government's credibility" on December 3rd. The Green MEP Sven Giegold called on Muscat to stay away from the upcoming EU summit on December 12th: "Muscat stands for the swamp of financial crime and corruption that cost Daphne Caruana Galizia his life", which is why he is not treated normally more possible ".

On January 11, 2020, Robert Abela was elected as his successor as Labor leader and two days later was appointed head of government.

family

Muscat is married to Michelle Muscat and has twin daughters.

literature

Web links

Commons : Joseph Muscat  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Change of power in Malta: Opposition wins parliamentary election . NZZ.ch, March 11, 2013
  2. ↑ a b Indictment against possible accomplices in the Galizia murder case , online time on November 30, 2019, link , accessed on December 1, 2019 at 00:30 CET
  3. ↑ Malta Times online: Malta's second youngest prime minister, March 10, 2013
  4. ↑ Malta, Gozo, Comino , page 464, online at: books.google.de / ...
  5. ^ Frankfurter Rundschau: Malta Files: Tax Practices Put Muscat Under Pressure . In: Frankfurter Rundschau . ( fr.de [accessed on June 5, 2017]).
  6. ^ Mauritius Much, Hannes Munzinger, Bastian Obermayer: The Daphne Project . The trail to Azerbaijan. SZ.de, April 24, 2018. Retrieved April 26, 2018
  7. ↑ New elections instead of enlightenment - Malta as the "Panama of Europe"? In: Deutschlandfunk . ( deutschlandfunk.de [accessed June 5, 2017]).
  8. ↑ Malta: Muscat re-elected despite suspicion of corruption. RP Online , June 6, 2017, accessed the same day.
  9. ↑ Joseph Muscat - 2019 MAN OF THE YEAR IN ORGANIZED CRIME AND CORRUPTION. January 2, 2020, accessed on July 13, 2020 .
  10. ↑ Panama Papers: Konrad Mizzi is only minister in European Union mentioned , in: Independent April 4, 2016, online at: independent.com.mt / ...
  11. ↑ Panama Papers ensure new elections in Malta , Deutsche Welle from May 1, 2017, online at: dw.com / ...
  12. ^ Death of a tireless journalist , Süddeutsche Zeitung of October 17, 2017, online at: sueddeutsche.de / ...
  13. ↑ Does Malta's head of government have to resign? in: FAZ from November 29, 2019, online at: faz.net/
  14. ↑ Eggs on the Premier , taz of November 27, 2019, online at: taz.de / ...
  15. ↑ EU mission doubts Malta's government time online on December 3, 2019, link , accessed on December 3, 2019, 7:01 pm CET
personal data
SURNAME Muscat, Joseph
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Maltese politician, MEP, Prime Minister since March 2013
DATE OF BIRTH 22nd January 1974
PLACE OF BIRTH Pietà