The Nationalist Party is in big trouble.

On Sunday, PN Leader Bernard Grech announced that the party is €32 million in debt. This will not be an easy hole for the party to climb out of.

The party had tried to climb out of its financial troubles a few years ago. We all remember the PN’s cedoli scheme, which caused a bit of controversy in 2017. The PN reportedly made €3.5 million from that scheme.

The PN’s financial troubles have been known for a long, long time. It is nothing new, but the figure Grech gave on Sunday is staggering.

In 2020, PN Deputy Leader Robert Arrigo said the PN’s debt hovered around €20 million. That is just two years ago! One must keep in mind the general election that just passed, which must have been quite an expense, but the finances of the party are now in dire straits.

Grech gave the figure while saying that he wants to be an honest leader. To be fair, there is nothing wrong with being honest about the party’s finances, but now he is going to need to make some very tough decisions to fix the financial struggles. The PN is going to need a ruthless financial guru to sort this out.

He said, about the party’s media company – Media Link: "Every month we are also losing thousands of euros in our media company which, to this day, makes it unsustainable.”

The issue with this is that while the Labour Party keeps ONE TV in operation, the PN cannot afford to weaken its own media. The only thing it can do is try and make sure the shows it chooses attract a wider audience.

The party, he said, has a large amount of assets. "Despite all of this, there is hope that we will move forward and improve because this party has a large amount of assets that can make up for the debts that the party has," Grech said.

Does this mean we could see the party having to sell off assets? Or perhaps will it mean changing the use of these assets to ones that are more profitable? One would need to wait and see.

What is sure is that the party needs to make this issue a main focus, and fast.

How could the people entrust a party that is unable to get its finances under control with the running of a country? The simple answer is that they can’t.

Grech is running for party leader after the recent electoral loss. He said that the party “cannot afford any more division in a party that is already too far apart." He is right on this point, but now the party members will need to decide whether he is the man to take the party forward.

Fixing the financial issues will not be an easy task and will require sacrifice. It will also mean that hard choices may lay ahead for the PN.