Why did you decide to run for the PN leadership?

I feel that the party is in dire straits, and it needs someone to come in, unify the party, and put it back on track. The party is being led by the nose, by a person who influences the party intelligentsia, and is crashing into the wall repeatedly. If it remains on the same path, it will continue crashing.

How can one person be blamed for all the faults of a political party?

Not all the faults. She [Daphne Caruana Galizia] was described as a noose around the PN’s neck. These are not my words, but I think it describes her correctly. Read her articles, has she ever actually put forward a positive idea for the country? No, it is full of hatred and divisiveness. She targets people’s families – the wife of the Prime Minister, my family – people who have absolutely nothing to do with politics. Throughout the election, the PN executives consistently mentioned her name, as though she was running the party’s agenda.  If I am elected, the PN will have absolutely nothing to do with her.

Beyond this, what exactly is your vision for the party?

The party cannot continue on this path of neo-liberalism, succumbing to public pressure just to gain some votes. It tries to serve both God and the Devil, but it simply cannot. I believe that the party needs to return to its Christian Democratic roots. The party needs to tell the public that these are our principles, and apply them as they had done in the past. This does not mean that we are not open-minded. We accept civil unions, but this does not mean we should be infringing on the rights of others, like the Marriage Equality Act has done. The legislation did not provide new rights to the LGBTIQ lobby, but infringed on the rights of people who value traditional marriage.

What is your vision for the country? Could you elaborate on some proposals?

The foundations of the PN are built on the concept of ‘Religio e Patria’ (For God and Country), and solidarity. Clearly, the country is not working this way, especially when it comes to the more vulnerable people in society. Do you think that selling off government land like the Institute for Tourism Studies, Zonqor, Smart City, and eventually White Rocks will help these people? The government can get millions by selling this land off for development, yet young people, pensioners, and low-income families cannot afford a place to live in anymore. The price of rental and sale prices have skyrocketed, and young people cannot even afford a small apartment. Our public land should be used to provide affordable housing, and not by building villas and apartments for foreign millionaires.

I believe that it is very good to be business friendly, because it does create a lot of wealth, but we cannot simply forget about these people. How can we boast of having a surplus, when we have 60,000 pensioners in our country who are in danger of poverty? This is why solidarity is a fundamental concept. We need to provide them with a living wage, and not the minimum. I know a pensioner who receives €530 per month. How can a person afford to pay rent, buy food, pay bills, etc.? People have worked their whole lives, only to die from starvation in their final years.

Everyone says the economy is doing well and they’re right, but it certainly is not doing well for everyone. Do you know which economy is booming? It is the black economy. There are 70,000 foreigners who work without paying social security and taxes, because they are being exploited by wealthy individuals. There are workers who are being paid about €3.50 an hour. They pay such a low wage because they know Maltese would never accept working for that amount, while a foreigner would.

 

The Nationalist Party has lost two landslide general elections; do you think this message will bridge the gap? Do you see the PN winning the next election?

At the end of this leadership contest, the winner will not receive a gold trophy, but rather a sack full of problems, a party that has hurt many people. One thing that needs to change is the association with negative people. If you are with a drunkard, I assume you are a drunkard. If you hang out with prostitutes, I think you use prostitutes. If you are with someone who is corrupt, then you are corrupt. If you associate with someone who is always negative, then the party is negative.

The leader of the party quoted Daphne Caruana Galizia throughout the election. She attacked the wife of the Prime Minister. I do not know whether the claims are true or not, but you cannot attack her without evidence.

There have been reports on Caruana Galizia’s blog that you owe €11.6 million in loans, with published documentation indicating as much, what is your view on the claims?

She wrote a story that St Philip’s Hospital owes a loan to the bank. The bank would have never provided the loan if the value of the assets did not exceed the loan. The assets are worth €20 million. It is a malicious attack that presents a false financial situation, and I can tell you she knows these things because she certainly is not stupid.

She has fought with everyone, and like she did 10 years ago, she has started attacking me again. She calls me in the evening, in the middle of the night. She is a predator and even bothers my family. Imagine if I called her 15-year-old son or daughter, what would people say? What is a woman in her 50s doing running after my child? She is a predator, attacking me over something that happened over 30 years ago.

 

You had said that you intended to pursue the matter legally, will you do so?

Look, I have a reputation in Malta, and I am probably the only politician who has never lost a libel case. On the other hand, Daphne has been warned by the Chief Justice for lying under oath, yet she remains a journalist.

Do you agree that certain intimate details of your personal and business life can be constituted as fair comment, given that you are running for the role of PN leader, and potentially the highest office in the country?

A fair comment? I’ve done everything according to law, and according to the Church. What concerns the people is not my marriage of 35 years ago. The people should judge me on how I act day today. I feel that I lead through good example, I want nothing but the best for this country, and I am transparent. Those are the criteria people should follow. Adrian Delia was a gentleman when he called her hysterical. If there is someone who thinks that I have done something wrong and wants to speak out, speak now. However, there is no one in Malta who thinks this way, which is why she had to invent stories. My children, who she says I have hurt deeply, called me from abroad to tell me that they support me.

 

Moving on, it is fair to say that you are probably the most conservative of the four leadership candidates, with your strong and extreme views on migration and homosexuality, given that Malta seems to be on a more liberal path. Do feel that conservatives still have their place in modern politics?

I am the most principled candidate not the most conservative. The party had its principles, and I would not have joined the current version of the party because they do not represent these values. ‘Religio e Patria’ are our principles.

But is there a place for people with such principles?

 

Of course there is, without principles you can never win an election, because the people will never know where you stand. The PN are always trying to the win the votes of Muslims, who say they want to chop off the hands of thieves, kill all homosexuals. It is in their religion.

 

Scriptures of all religions, including Christianity, have violent passages. Do you not think that comments like that paint people with one brush and clearly do not reflect the majority of the community?

The Imam had said on television that he did not think it was wrong to cut off a thief’s hand. This is anti-constitutional and against human rights. These are the facts; you simply cannot say these things in this country. Am I conservative for saying that? These are the principles Malta was founded on. Our laws reflect our religion; they cannot come here and ask that the laws also reflect theirs.

You have spoken of repatriation of migrants in the past, how exactly do you plan to do this?

There are 80,000 irregular migrants in Malta and only 3,000 are refugees. The rest are all economic refugees who are here illegally only to look for work. Malta cannot be expected to solve the problems of these countries. For example, Libya has an incredible amount of wealth from oil, I think they produce about two million gallons a day, but they only use the money to buy weapons and kill one another. Instead of building a school, they buy a tank.

 

This war has been going on for six years, and they do not know where all their wealth is going, so they are coming here and creating problems. How can we solve this? First, they need to stop fighting, with the help of the international conference. Unless the war stops , the problems will not go away. They even fight with people of their own religion; there are loads of factions always arguing between themselves.

 

It is no secret that your hospital has been used as a political football, should you get elected as PM, would you sell off your hospital to the government? Do you think it could cause a conflict of interest?

No, not at all. I am currently in negotiations for the sale of the hospital, to be used for whatever purpose. That is immaterial.

There was a Memorandum of Understanding in October 2012 with the government of the time, who was complaining about the lack of beds in hospital, which is still an issue. If you need a vascular appointment, you would have to wait till January 2019 to get one at Mater Dei. The government needs the beds, in fact it has just purchased 75 beds at St Elizabeth’s, the old people’s home in Rabat.

In 2012, the agreement took place between PWC, which was representing the government, and KPMG on behalf of the hospital. All the government needed to do was sign, but JPO and Franco Debono decided to speak out about it, claiming that it was a shady deal, but it was done with the two firms and none of us were involved.

This is just an attack against me and 2,500 elderly people are suffering at home because of the lack of beds at hospital. Yet we have a hospital that could take 150 people immediately, but because of politics, they chose not to use it and preferred making people suffer.

We still have an agreement with the government. We have a court case coming up, and they will have to pay the fees due from October 2012. We have a representative of the government of the time, who will speak in our favour, as we had confirmed that the agreement would have been signed the next day.

It is one of the best hospitals in Malta; every room has its own facilities, unlike Mater Dei. It needs refurbishment, yes, but it is also a large piece of land and a building that can take 300 patients.

But are you going to remain involved should you become PN Leader?

 

I will detach myself completely from the project if I become leader.

 

Do you have any targets should that become a reality?

In two years’ time, the MEP elections will be my first test. If I have not clawed back at least half of those votes, between 17,000 and 20,000, I will resign and allow the paid up members to select someone else to try and properly contest the next general election, which would be three years later. People need to choose someone they may not necessarily like, but who will win the general election, or at least compete with Joseph Muscat. Not a weak person like what we have now.

Should you be elected, you would be the first septuagenarian, and possibly the first octogenarian Prime Minister; do you feel that your age could hamper your political abilities?

 

I disagree, Reagan was older than me, Trump is my age, and Prince Charles is my age and still waiting. Old people are like a grocer, they weigh everything. We had a young leader in Simon, and did not win, because of the way he did things. Experience is essential. Would you prefer a pilot on your flight to know everything possible about the plane, or someone who is piloting for the first time? I think my past as an MP, PN Executive and PN President who has worked on winning campaigns, will serve me well.