If Charles Azzopardi is elected to Parliament in the upcoming casual election, he should join the Labour Party's Parliamentary Group, Bernard Grech said on Sunday, adding that if Azzopardi is not comfortable doing so, then he can always sit on the opposition benches the same way Marlene and Godfrey Farrugia do.
The opposition leader was asked about the casual election to replace Edward Scicluna, who resigned his seat in parliament in order to become the new Governor of the Central Bank of Malta.
Former Rabat mayor Charles Azzopardi will be contesting for the seat in parliament. Azzopardi had contested the 2017 elections under the Labour ticket, but fell out with Labour since then. He was not allowed by the Labour Party to contest the 2019 local council elections after there were what he called "malicious manoeuvres" to tarnish his reputation and credibility.
Azzopardi was barred from contesting the election soon after he had publicly opposed a proposed development on Saqqajja Hill in 2019. The day after that, he was handed an anonymous report with allegations about the council's operations.
Due to this, questions are circulating whether Azzopardi - if he wins the seat - will position himself as a Labour MP, an Independent MP, or as a PN MP, since it has also been confirmed that he is a PN paid-up member (tesserat).
Grech said that in his opinion, if Azzopardi is elected on the Labour Party ticket, he should be a labour representative. "If he is not comfortable, I have no problem with him being part of the opposition, such as the likes of Godfrey Farrugia and Marlene Farrugia."
Grech also responded to allegations of wrongdoing posited against Azzopardi.
"It's good that investigations are happening, but they cant's stay on as allegations. I expect that if there are allegations, then action should be taken. Up until now, there was no action taken," he said.
He noted that Rosianne Cutajar was already working within the government's ranks in a ministerial role when she allegedly committed questionable acts. "If the government has an MP in parliament who has serious allegations presented against them, you cannot allow them to continue as though nothing happened. This Prime Minister didn't even address himself on this matter." Grech was here referring to reports that Cutajar had allegedly played a part in brokering a property deal involving Yorgen Fenech back in 2019.
Grech also addressed recent surveys, and in particular one conducted by MaltaToday, which showed that Grech's trust rating increased by 4.6% as Robert Abela's dropped by 4.7%. He said that this is encouraging for him and the PN.
"These are encouraging numbers. We have to say truth. These are independent and professional surveys. It is the Maltese people saying that they want truthful politicians," Grech said.
Grech pointed out that the increase is not a coincidence, but due to the party's encouragement for people to get involved in it.
He said that participation within the PN is increasing. "People who left us are coming back to give their all," he said.
As he marks 100 days as a PN leader, Grech was asked whether more changes are going to take place within the ranks of the PN. He noted that there will be changes, but he is taking his time.
"I am being prudent... I know what I want and where the party needs to be. I first need to study everything so that I can make more informed decisions."
He stated that changes will happen within the party structures, especially with the introduction of new and younger faces.
Political party broadcasting stations
Asked about Lovin Malta's intention to launch court proceeding against political party stations to scrap a law allowing them to bypass impartiality rules, Grech highlighted that in the Maltese context, the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is not performing its duty as an impartial national network station.
"We need to be honest with ourselves and see the whole Maltese context; is PBS performing its duty as an impartial station? I say it without hesitation: PBS is not, as it is speaking in favour of the government."
Grech also noted that in an ideal world, there would not be partisan political stations. However, in the current state, they cannot afford to be closed down due to unfairness in the broadcasting system.
"In a utopian state, we don't need political party stations; that is the ideal scenario. When you have impartiality, you have to have correct reportage and state all of the facts. If there was impartiality, in terms of the placement of news items, reports and so on, the PN wouldn't need to continuously protest to the broadcasting authority."
Donation presented by Adrian Delia
Regarding Delia €500,000 donation presented by PN MP Adrian Delia on behalf of the Catco Group,, Grech said that he should have known about it before. The Malta Independent had revealed that the opposition leader was notified of Delia's involvement "after it was presented and from subsequent reports in the media",
"I had to know before, yes, because we are one party. But I spoke to Delia and gave his explanation. He wanted something good to happen. It would have been better had he informed me prior to it."