PN leader Bernard Grech has no moral authority to take action against those who “put him” in his role as party leader, Prime Minister Robert Abela said as the opposition leader faces pressure over his handling of one of his MP’s tax issues.
Abela was speaking during a radio interview on ONE Radio, his first Sunday interview in a number of weeks, where he discussed a number of topics.
Special criticism however was reserved for the Nationalist Party and its leader Bernard Grech.
“We have an opposition leader who defends tax evasion. That’s because before anything, he doesn’t have the moral authority to do so because it’s what he always did, and secondly because he cannot take action against those who put him in his role. So, the first problem he has is a credibility one,” Abela said.
He was referring to tax issues which PN MP David Thake is currently facing on one of his companies. It was revealed in recent days that Thake’s company had a pending tax bill of over €200,000, while MaltaToday also reported on Sunday that the PN MP’s business hadn’t filed accounts for a decade and had a pending VAT bill of €550,000.
“He needs to lead by example,” Abela said of the PN leader; “But he cannot because he doesn’t have the moral authority to give the right example, and he has people around him who do not set the right example either.”
Abela spoke about an announcement of a raft of rule of law proposals by the Nationalist Party based on the recommendations of the Daphne Caruana Galizia public inquiry.
Abela said that if there was a government which introduced a “record” number of laws which strengthen the rule of law, it was the Labour government.
He said that the Labour government had introduced recommendations which had been pending since Nationalist governments, and that this will continue including with the recommendations connected to the public inquiry which looked into the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia.
He criticised “infantile” comments by Grech who made it appear like the government had done nothing on the inquiry since its publication, saying that the only reason that the PN had hosted the press conference on Saturday was because they knew that the government had just concluded a number of legal amendments and sent them to experts to move forward with.
“These are games which show a lack of political maturity,” Abela said.
“Ever since the inquiry was published, I met the Caruana Galizia family a number of times. We had respectful discussions. There’s no doubt that we didn’t always agree, but that’s why you need to consult: to understand before then taking decisions in the interest of the country. Likewise, we’ve spoken with the Institute of Maltese Journalists and other individuals as we draw up other legislative amendments for consultation. Without hiding anything, with the greatest transparency,” he said.
Abela explained that amongst the reforms are a police unit which would be dedicated to protecting journalists, and changes to libel laws as well.
“The truth is completely the opposite to us sleeping on the recommendations and not doing anything. But I expected nothing better. How can you expect something better from someone whose idea of good governance is to terrorise institutions when he doesn’t agree with them,” Abela added.
Wage supplement to be extended beyond January for some sectors
The Covid-19 wage supplement will, for some sectors, be extended beyond January, Abela announced during the interview.
He dedicated the first chunk of his interview to speaking about how the government has an economic plan, as presented during the Budget last October, to sustain Malta’s recovery from the virus.
“Last year we started the road to recovery, and this year we need to sustain it,” Abela said.
He mentioned how prices across Europe, particularly on energy, have exploded and have increased pressure on families and pensioners.
Others used the international scene as a pretext to put more pressure on people, Abela said in a not so veiled reference to the PN.
We try to do as much as possible to protect our people from the negative effects – and the principles from March 2020 were a protective layer around our people so not to increase economic pressures, Abela said.
He said that Malta has the lowest fuel and electricity prices in Europe and that they remained low of the government’s aggressive intervention, such as on fuel by reducing customs duties on it to keep the price where it is.
He said that there are certain sectors which are still facing tough circumstances due to the pandemic. The tourism sector, he said, is amongst those as it is facing a more difficult shoulder period than usual owing to disruptions to travel as a result of the pandemic’s resurgence, meaning that the necessary decision is to extend the wage supplement beyond the end of this month.
“It doesn’t make sense to withdraw aid at such a crucial moment,” he said.
“However, we do not want to encourage dependence on the wage supplement; so we need to incentivise innovation,” he added.
It was either emphasis on the booster, or more restrictive measures – PM
Turning to Covid-19, Abela admitted that the choice was between placing more emphasis on the Covid-19 vaccine booster shot or increasing the amount of restrictive measures to curb the spread of the virus, which has intensified in past weeks owing to the Omicron variant.
He praised all those who were coming forward to take the booster shot, parents who have taken their children to be vaccinated, and all those still coming forward to get vaccinated for the first time. Abela also reserved special praise for health staff who have kept the country going in the past months.
Abela said that the number of people in intensive care is much lower than it was in situations where there was no vaccine yet available, showing unequivocally that the vaccine is working as intended.
He said that a conscious decision had been taken to, as from the 17th January, place more emphasis on the booster shot.
“The probability was that we would have had to add restrictive measures otherwise. It was either that or emphasising on the vaccine. It makes no sense to protect people with restrictive measures when we have the scientific tool to protect people with instead,” Abela said.
'Unacceptable that people feel unsafe because of who they are'
“What we saw in the last days makes you think. It shows you that there are themes which aren’t being appreciated enough. Maybe there isn’t the awareness. I’m talking about hate speech and hate crimes, for instance – be it gender, belief, race. You get episodes and you get consensus on how important it is to give importance to these themes,” Abela said.
He said that a lot had been done from a legislative perspective, but that in truth you can never do enough.
“Legal changes and administrative strengthening mean nothing if there isn’t a change in culture and attitude of everyone,” he said.
Referring to the murder of Paulina Dembska, he said that the past few days had brought about a sense of anger because this is not what characterises Maltese society.
“I saw this when I went to the vigil. The anger shows that what happened is not compatible with Maltese values,” he said.
“I wanted to attend the vigil because I wanted to send the message that that which happened was not acceptable. It’s unacceptable that there are these types of crimes and society remains quiet. It’s unacceptable that people feel unsafe because of their gender, sexual identity, or race,” he added.
Abela tied in his memories of cancer doctor Victor Calvagna, who tragically passed away last week after he was hit by a car while out running, with the topic, saying that the country needs to be built on a sense of love and respect.
“Victor Calvagna has an incredible sense of love, and it’s up to us to keep his love alive by supporting his principles and by supporting Puttinu Cares,” he said.
“And we need to keep the value of respect alive as well – it’s no secret that we have a general election coming up soon, so let’s keep holding those values of respect as well,” he said.