WHAT TOOK SO LONG?

Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat Vows to Resign in January

Joseph Muscat said he would resign his party on Jan. 12 and then step down as prime minister “in the days after” over his handling of the murder of a popular journalist

Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said he would step down as leader of the Labor party on Jan. 12 and “in the days after I will resign as prime minister.” Muscat has faced increasing pressure from the Maltese public after several members of his cabinet resigned over allegations of complicity in the Oct. 2017 murder of Panama Papers journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. “As prime minister, I promised two years ago that justice would be done in the case of the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia,” Muscat said in a televised speech Sunday evening without mentioning that he was a frequent target of Caruana Galizia’s anti-corruption investigations. “Today I am here to tell you that I kept my word.” Maltese businessman Yorgen Fenech was arraigned Saturday on charges of alleged complicity in the murder and of allegedly organizing and financing the bombing. Fenech had ties to Muscat’s former chief of staff Keith Schembri, who is also alleged to be linked to the killing. Schembri and two other cabinet members resigned last week.