Stronger laws and institutional reforms alone will not prevent political abuse unless those in power respect both the law and its spirit, Deputy Speaker and PN MP Bernard Grech has said, adding that Malta ultimately needs a change in government to address its rule of law problems.

Speaking in an interview with The Malta Independent, the former PN Leader, who is now also the PN's shadow minister for EU funds, social dialogue and consumer protection, said that laws must continue to be strengthened, but argued that legislation can only go so far if politicians seek to exploit loopholes or disregard the spirit behind it.

"I would say that we need more foolproof laws when it comes to abuse by politicians. I strongly believe in good laws, and that we can continue making them better," Grech said.

However, he said that the differences between Malta before and after Labour came to power in 2013 could not simply be explained through legislation.

"The laws we had between 2013 and 2026 are not that different from the laws we had before 2013, but we did not have the same abuses, we did not have the same rule-of-law crises, we did not have the same abuse of power. Why? Because you had politicians who did not abuse loopholes in the law or abuse the spirit of the law," Grech said.

Grech said reforms and changes to legislation remained important, but maintained that they could not, by themselves, provide a solution.

"This country needs politicians who do not abuse the laws we have, however good those laws may be," he said, adding that this was why he believed a change in government was necessary.

His comments come at a time when questions surrounding Malta's institutions and the rule of law have again come to the forefront following the conclusion of Yorgen Fenech's 55-day jury trial earlier this month.

Fenech was acquitted by eight votes to one of complicity and conspiracy in the assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. The Attorney General has since appealed the acquittal.

The PN has also renewed pressure on the government to fully implement the recommendations of the public inquiry into Caruana Galizia's assassination.

Asked what the PN would actually do if its end-of-October deadline for the implementation of those recommendations passes without action, Grech said the party would reserve the right to take further steps.

He described Caruana Galizia's assassination as one of three unresolved "wounds" in Malta's political history, alongside the killings of Karin Grech and Raymond Caruana.

Karin Grech, he noted, was his cousin.

"I don't only have the perspective of a citizen. I have the perspective of a family which, to this day, continues to suffer because the truth was never told," he said.

While stressing that the circumstances were different, Grech said this gave him some understanding of what the Caruana Galizia family has endured.

"The Nationalist Party has an obligation to continue giving strong support so that the whole truth comes out, so that justice is done for the family and for Daphne's memory, and so that justice is also done with the Maltese people," he said.

"The Maltese people have this shadow hanging over them and so does our country. Perhaps many think it is not affecting us, but it is affecting us greatly," Grech added.

Grech pointed towards legislation proposed by the PN while he was party leader which, he said, was inspired by the conclusions of the public inquiry but was voted down by the government.

He accused the Labour government of saying one thing while doing another, when it comes to implementing the inquiry's conclusions, and said the PN now wants to "force the government" to implement the recommendations.

"If the government remains stubborn, we reserve the right to take further action," he said.

The Opposition has already sought to bring the inquiry recommendations before Parliament, with current PN leader Alex Borg saying earlier this month that the country could no longer afford delays in implementing the reforms.

Grech was also challenged on whether the PN was seeking to capitalise politically on what emerged during Fenech's trial, particularly given that corruption and the rule of law were not placed at the centre of the party's latest general election campaign.

He rejected the suggestion that the issues had become less of a priority, describing the difference as "a choice of style, not of priorities."

"The fight against corruption and for justice has always remained at the forefront for the Nationalist Party," he said.

Grech said Borg had made decisions according to his own political style, while adding that a party also needed to broaden its appeal if it wanted to be in a position to bring about change.

"The stronger it is, the more influence it can exert," he said.

At the same time, Grech acknowledged that corruption and the rule of law alone would not determine how people vote.

Someone struggling with their wage, pension, working conditions or cost of living may consider justice important, he said, but would also be asking whether their own life would improve.

"The party also has to push these matters," he said.

That, Grech argued, lies at the heart of the PN's challenge if it is to return to government after suffering another general election defeat this year.

Rather than framing the issue around whether the PN wins or loses, Grech said the party had an obligation to continue improving because, in his view, the country needs a change in government.

The PN must not only continue reducing the electoral gap but eventually overturn it, he said.

For that to happen, Grech believes the party must remain close to people and convince those who are currently doing relatively well that a change in government would not leave them worse off.

"People who today are doing well or getting by well need to ask themselves: 'If the PN is in government, will I be the same or better off?'"

"The moment they convince themselves that yes, they would be better off, they will find the courage to vote for the Nationalist Party. Ultimately, people do not change government only because of justice or the rule of law; they also change government because of the country's economy and their own economy," he said.

Grech said the party should continue along the trajectory it had followed in recent elections, pointing particularly towards the significant narrowing of the gap between the two major parties in the 2024 European Parliament and Local Councils election.

He said the PN must now continue making direct contact with people rather than limiting its efforts to symbolic gestures.

That electoral challenge also feeds into what Grech described as the need for Malta to move away from an economic model driven predominantly by quantity.

Asked what the PN would do differently in the face of persistent concerns surrounding population growth, traffic, infrastructure, electricity, development and the environment, Grech said changing the economic model could not happen overnight.

"Changing the economic model is not a switch. It is a transition which needs to happen gradually, in the best possible way, so that the country does not suffer shocks," he said.

Grech said existing investment and businesses had to be protected during such a transition but said that economic policy also carried a social obligation towards those who were not benefiting from growth to the same extent as others.

"There are people who tell you: 'I don't have the money to go on holiday once a year'," he said.

He referred to the effects of traffic, infrastructure pressures, power cuts and environmental pollution, as well as competition faced by workers when others are prepared to work for lower wages.

The answer, he said, was to shift the economy from "chasing quantity in everything" towards higher standards and quality.

He applied that principle to tourism, saying that Malta should focus less on increasing visitor numbers for their own sake and more on attracting tourists who spend more during their stay.

"Instead of having a tourist who spends €10, you have a tourist who spends €100," he said.

Grech said Malta had to accept that it could not seek to cater for every market simultaneously and instead make deliberate choices about the sectors and type of investment it wanted to attract.

"We need to understand that this country cannot be everything. We need to make a choice. That is the direction in which all the social partners now agree with us that we need to go: towards an economy of quality and standards, where we attract the best," he said.

"Malta can become a centre of excellence in Europe. We can do that. There is no reason why we cannot," Grech added.

Asked what such a transition would mean for the large number of foreign workers already living and working in Malta, Grech said migration flows historically adjusted according to economic demand, pointing to the departure of thousands of foreign workers during the Covid-19 pandemic as circumstances and labour needs changed.

"I am not saying we are going to return to circumstances like Covid, God forbid, but if I address the economy in such a way that I need a certain number of workers rather than that number times 100, then you will have less need for certain workers," he said.

At the same time, Grech said more investment was needed in Maltese young people and in creating higher-quality jobs for them.

He acknowledged that moving towards an economy based on higher standards could itself create challenges, including increased costs and higher prices in some areas.

Higher-quality investment therefore also had to translate into better wages, he said, allowing workers to absorb those additional costs.

Grech said that the economic argument and the institutional one ultimately converge on the same political challenge facing the PN: convincing people that changing government would improve both the way the country is governed and their own everyday lives.

After five years spent leading the PN himself, Grech said he believes the party's task is now not merely to continue closing the gap with Labour, but to persuade enough voters that a different government would leave both them and the country better off.