Opposition Leader Adrian Delia on Sunday evening said the PN would make the country safe again, claiming that “it is not safe to walk the streets under Labour.”

“Come walk with us,” he told supporters at a political rally in Floriana, the PN will make this country safer, cleaner and stronger.”

Delia criticized the government’s lack of vision in all sectors, attacking its plan to bring tens of thousands of foreign workers to Malta over the next few years.

He said the economy should be based on production, not on population. “Where is the PM going to house the 70,000 workers he plans to bring over in the coming years? All the apartments and garages are full.”

In four years’ time there will be more foreigners than Maltese working in the private sector, he said, asking where these people would live and which sectors they would work in.

“They keep asking us what our proposals are. He (Muscat) can leave, and go count all that he has stashed up, and we will then tell him what our proposals are.”

Delia said the government was steaming ahead without a vision, often with unintended consequences.

“In the ‘best of times’ we have 70,000 at risk of poverty, 20,000 who cannot afford a second pair of shoes, people living not in apartments, but on the street, in gardens, on farms, in latrines and in dilapidated buildings.”

If this was happening during ‘l-aqwa zmien’, what would things be like when the country was not going through the best of times, he asked.

Turning to the environment, the PN leader said development was good, but the government has to ensure that the wealth is distributed equally. “Business is creating wealth but the government is creating poverty,” he charged. “Muscat said he wants to do 10 years. He does not care about what happens after that, after he leaves.”

The government has a duty to plan for all sectors, Delia argued. “If you take all sectors and see what the government’s vision is you will find that there is none. What is the government’s vision for the environment? To ensure that not a single tree remains? Is this what we want for our children? We are able to tell people how we can change this around. How the environment can become an economic sector in itself.”

Delia said the government was spending €700 million on building new roads but this would not solve anything. “By the time these roads are done traffic will have increased so much that the projects would already be useless.”

He said that government had also taken three public hospitals and handed them over to people who did not even have one day of experience in the field. “We have a duty to realize what’s happening and stop doing thinking only of our pockets.”

Delia also spoke about the constitutional case he has filed to be given a full copy of the Egrant report. He said the PN had fought for democracy in the past and people eventually started taking it for granted.

“The Attorney General is the government’s chief consultant. He is the one who should say what happens after a magisterial inquiry is concluded. He also presides over the FIAU.

He is defending the government in the court case I have filed. He gave the PM the Egrant report but did not give a copy to the Opposition Leader. He argued that the PM needed all 1,400 pages but the Opposition Leader did not.

The AG is breaching the constitution. He is a threat to democracy because he is creating a political imbalance.”

Speaking about the PN’s Independence Day slogan – a society that cares – Delia said the PN was listening to people and showing them that there is someone who cares. It is society itself that should care, he said.

Delia said the PN had lost many votes over the years, mainly because it worked hard for the country but, in the process, became detached from the people. “They mock us for going to village to festas but we are duty bound to meet people and listen to their aspirations.  I can promise that the PN will never again become detached. You will never come and find our doors to be closed. This goes for everyone, not just nationalists.”

Delia also said party membership had picked up. In fact, the last year was the best in the last 13 years. “More has to be done. The mountain is high and the road ahead long but we will overcome.” 

 

PL reaction

Reacting, the Labour Party said Delia had wasted an entire year because he had offered nothing new. It said Delia had repeated his usual speech, which included a harsh attack on the Attorney General, which is a repetition of what his predecessor used to do.

It accused Delia of being negative, including on the €700 million roads pledge.

Above all, Delia had confirmed that he has no vision for the country, the PL said.