Mifsud Bonnici 's family staunchly supported the Nationalist Party . His brother Antoine was a Nationalist MP and Parliamentary Secretary while a cousin , Ugo Mifsud Bonnici , was a Nationalist MP , Minister and President of Malta . In the 1960s , at the height of the dispute between the Maltese Church and the Labour Party , Mifsud Bonnici was an official of a number of lay organisations connected to the Church and supported the " diocesan junta " of Church organisations opposing Dom Mintoff and his Party . He would later claim to be " a Nationalist by birth , but a Labourite through free choice and conviction " . In 1980 , he was appointed as Deputy Leader of the Labour Party and in 1982 appointed Designate Leader and co-opted into Parliament and assigned the Ministry of Employment and Social Services . Later , he was assigned the Ministry of Education , a responsibility he held until 1986 . In 1984 , he was sworn in as Prime Minister , thus becoming the first Maltese Prime Minister since independence to be sworn in without actually standing for a general election . In 1985 , he was the lead negotiator in the hijacking of EgyptAir Flight 648 in which 60 of the 92 passengers were killed
EgyptAir Flight 648
EgyptAir Flight 648
Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici