Outgoing Nationalist Party leader Bernard Grech has appealed for everyone to get behind whoever is named as his successor as PN leader over the coming months.

He stated that as the new leader will have his support, everyone else must back them too - overtly and behind closed doors.

"I appeal for everyone, when it's visible and when it is not, to fully back the next leader of the Nationalist Party," Grech expressed.

"Whoever loves our country must give their full support to our next leader," Bernard Grech said, adding that "only that way can the PN continue to grow and be an alternative government for our country."

Speaking on NET Television, Grech said he has full faith in the paid party members - commonly referred to as tesserati - to have the intelligence and judgement to make the right decision.

The outgoing PN leader said that the party leadership role is a "great opportunity" for interested candidates, and that this pending leadership change is a great opportunity for the party to move forwards, as he said, "it must." Hence, he urged people to come forward to carry this responsibility.

Grech is hoping that the new leader will be elected in a timely and peaceful manner "so that the country not only have a strong Opposition, but so that the PN can serve as an alternative government."

He established that his successor must motivate the party as a whole to work harder and better, and that this can only happen if everyone within the party is cooperating accordingly.

Grech expressed that he has no doubts that the Nationalist Party can keep moving forwards and continue to provide hope to the people, "because that's what it always has been doing."

He said that "it's moments like this that prove men from boys" and that when the moment arises, everyone within the party must rise to the occasion in whatever role they occupy.

Grech noted that it was a great privilege for him to lead the Nationalist Party. As he was speaking on Fathers' Day, Grech said that throughout his tenure as PN leader, he always felt like he was fathering the party in his position, as his predecessors did, and hopes that his successor will lead similarly.

In this regard, he clarified that in his view, it doesn't matter whether his successor is a man or a woman as long as they have the determination, passion, and selflessness to put the party first before everything else.

"Gender does not make a difference," Grech said.

He concluded that he will be happy to serve under the new leader, whoever it may be, and repeated the necessity that everyone within the Nationalist Party similarly backs his successor this way.

When asked what made him submit his resignation from the party's leadership role, Bernard Grech said that it had become evident that with him as leader, the party had hit a brick wall and couldn't progress any further.

"I felt that we weren't moving forward. I felt like I had to go and make space for the ideal person for this party to progress," Grech stated.

He said that for the same reason he felt that he had the duty to lead the party five years ago, after being selected by the tesserati, the same reasoning pushed him to announce his resignation till his successor is elected internally.

Grech described his time in charge as "five great years filled with satisfaction," and particularly recounted the electoral success of June 2024, when he said the Nationalist Party beat all expectations and reduced the deficit to the Labour Party.

During this interview, Grech was asked whether he has anyone in mind to replace him as Nationalist Party leader, though he kept his cards close to his chest. Grech observed that he has his own preferences, though did not mention any names.

Noting that European Parliament President Roberta Metsola is out of the leadership following her announcement the day prior that she is not willing to abandon her prestigious EU post in the face of so much global instability, Grech remarked that the party "certainly" has valid candidates. The Opposition leader commented that some of these "valid persons" are ready for the task at hand, while for others, "maybe it's not their time."

Reiterating his appeal for everyone to back his successor, the departing leader stressed on the importance of this by referencing the political attacks made by the PN's political adversaries: the Labour Party in government.

Grech told viewers that he expects PL's political narratives to try and derail the process to select the PN's next leader as the Labour Party already consistently critiques it, "and not always justly."

Here, Grech made reference to how Prime Minister Robert Abela "and all PL political cannons falsely claimed" that some PN MPs - Toni Bezzina, Ivan Castillo, and Robert Cutajar - were not going to work; this claim was entirely disproved by the Standards Commissioner as no breach of ethics or sign of wrongdoing was found, he said.

Aside from the party's elephant in the room, Bernard Grech also briefly discussed the present situation of structurally weak buildings in Paceville, St. Julian's, as well as the discussion surrounding Manoel Island and its concession.

On Manoel Island, Grech declared that the concession should be terminated and that Manoel Island should become a national park.

Regarding the Paceville building collapse and the dismantling of structurally weak adjacent building(s), Grech condemned the Prime Minister's absence. He criticised that PM Abela "has not provided full assurance to the people that the necessary things are happening or that things could be improved."

He described that within the construction sector, as the country has observed through the building collapse that resulted in no injuries or fatalities, "everything that could have happened wrongly in the past few years will remain there, as they were constructed; that is the responsibility on the line here."

Grech continued that this sector illustrates why it is vital for politicians to carry political responsibility and to let the institutions function as they must - because danger does not arise in ongoing or future construction, but as we've seen this week, it can arise even from readily constructed buildings.

Laying his criticisms, Grech called for the government to be more transparent with the Maltese people and not pretend that it has done something substantial through the amendment of a law, but rather, see that the law is enforced as it should be.