Adrian Delia was reluctant to give a clear yes or no answer to whether or not he would back PN MP Chris Said’s parliamentary motion presented last Tuesday. However, he made it clear that the motion was a ‘personal initiative’ and said that one person on his own will not change the Parliamentary Group’s agenda.

On 31 October, Said presented a private member’s bill in Parliament, signed solely by him, for an investigation to be launched by three former judges into those about whom murdered journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia had written. Controversy arose when the PL insinuated that Said had tabled the bill in a bid to have Delia investigated.

Asked whether he was aware of the contents of Chris Said’s motion, and pressed as to whether or not he would back it, Delia said: “Chris Said attended a Parliamentary Group meeting but didn’t stay for the whole meeting. He said he had something in mind to present a motion. We were discussing other things when he left, so it was not discussed in the Parliamentary Group and nothing was decided on it.

“On Monday, he told me in Parliament that he wished to present the motion.” Delia said he told Said that before looking into it, the Parliamentary Group had decided to make the proposals they had made earlier (regarding the removal of the Police Commissioner and the Attorney General, laws which can be enacted in six months, etc.) “And so that was the Parliamentary Group’s plan: that we were going to present it to government and, in fact, spoke about it on Monday in Parliament. That was the position and without going into the debate over that motion, it is completely his own personal initiative, taken without it having been debated within the Parliamentary Group.”

Pressed as to whether he will back the motion, again Delia did not give a specific answer, but said: “I clearly explained that the Parliamentary Group has its own work and agenda that is not dictated to by someone who takes a personal initiative on the day and then that jumps ahead of the rest of the agenda. Our Parliamentary Group has a lot of important work and decisions and, for sure, one person on their own will not change its agenda.”

Said’s own statements earlier in the week read that in the Parliamentary Group meeting on 27 October he had said he wanted to present a private motion for three former judges to investigate Daphne Caruana Galizia’s writing, and that on 30 October he passed on a copy to Adrian Delia. He also said that a Deputy Leader had suggested he present it on the Tuesday.

Asked whether he has held the one-on-one meetings with Chris Said and Simon Busuttil, Delia said that he had met with Busuttil many times in the beginning and did not need to have another, stating that they worked together even on the presentation by the PN Parliamentary Group last Monday. He said there were no communication issues with him.

With Chris Said, however: “I had a one-on-one meeting at the beginning. I did not have another but the attitude Chris Said is taking is a bit to act alone (ghal rasu). Everyone knows my door is open and there is space for everyone in the PN, but to move forward and strengthen the party there must be the will from both sides, not just from one.”

Delia, asked what specific measures for institutional reform he has in mind, apart from the two-thirds Parliamentary majority proposal for the positions of Police Commissioner and Attorney General, mentioned the plan the PN proposed in Parliament earlier in the week. “The first part is something that can be done in order to send a message that we recognise the problem: the removal of the Police Commissioner and the AG, and that they be appointed through a two-thirds Parliamentary majority. That is a message and government and the Opposition can tell the people that we recognise there is a problem.

“In the second part, we are saying that in the medium term – around six months – there are a number of laws which can be enacted without changing the Constitution.” As an example, Delia mentioned the setting up of an inquiring magistrate with certain powers to investigate when an investigation is needed. He mentioned that if a person stops someone from voting, or buys a voting document, this is a corrupt practice. “But if you give someone a job a week before an election, is that a corrupt practice? There are laws that need to be changed in order to strengthen the independence and autonomy of everything that is necessary to strengthen democracy.”

 

This is the first part of an interview with Opposition Leader Adrian Delia. The rest of the interview, in which he speaks about the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia and allegations that were made about him will be published later. The full interview was published today on The Malta Independent on Sunday.