‘Our past is a guarantee of our future’ | David Agius

It’s been a bumpy five years for the PN. While recent polls suggest that it has managed to narrow the gap – from 40,000 to around 25,000 – it is clearly no longer the ‘well-oiled, election-winning machine’ that we all once knew. Is the PN resigned to its new status, as a rather small(ish) political force?

Let’s look at where we started from. As you said, the PN registered a number of electoral victories in the past. And with the entry of Malta into the European Union, I think the Nationalist Party brought democratic stability to the country. But two elections ago, the people felt it needed a change of government; with a large majority, that was consolidated at the last election.

Now let’s look at what happened between the last election, and today. There have been a lot of changes, since 2017. There was a change of Prime Minister, for instance – which I think is going to have an effect on the coming election. The deputy leaders of the Labour Party have also changed, in the meantime. I think this will have an effect, too.

There was also the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia.  Not to mention a number of corruption scandals, which – unlike the situation before 2017: where the corruption was still only ‘alleged’ – have since been proven beyond any shadow of doubt.

On the other hand, the Nationalist Party also went through a number of changes. From Simon Busuttil, the leadership passed to Adrian Delia, then to Bernard Grech. So while the country was going through all this upheaval – which, in Labour’s case, was forced upon it by its own corruption – the Nationalist party was still looking for its own leader. And all along, the people were absorbing everything that was happening.

So I think that what happened at the last election, will not happen again this time. Why? Because today, the people have started to listen to us more… unlike the situation five years ago, when our message wasn’t getting across as much. We were saying things, yes; and we were also coming up with proof of what we were saying; but obviously, it wasn’t enough for people to conclude that we were actually right.

But over the past year, it’s been a totally different story. People are now realizing that Adrian Delia was right about the Vitals/Steward Healthcare scandal. On the subject of utility bills: Joseph Muscat himself – and also the Auditor General, and even the government - has now given us confirmation that that were, in fact, anomalies, and theft.

And do you remember how much Simon Busuttil had talked about Zonqor [where public land was ceded to AUM]? The Nationalist Party has now been proven right about that, too. And the same goes the Marsaskala marina, and so many other issues…

There’s an irony in what you’re saying, though. What happened at Zonqor, was a carbon copy of the ‘Majjistral Golf Course’ issue under Lawrence Gonzi…

But I’m only talking about the last five years…

Fair enough. Go on.

What I’m driving at, is that people are now listening to us more. And this why, at the very beginning of the campaign, we came out with an electoral programme which has been long in the making. Work on our manifesto started under Adrian Delia, and it continued under Bernard Grech - with contributions from numerous people, both publicly and in private – so that the finished product contains numerous proposals addressing all the relevant economic sectors. And there are others, which have yet to be announced.

This way, we are clearing showing the people that, even though the PN did pass through a period of turmoil… today, we are prepared. Not just because of our electoral manifesto, which covers the next 10 years; but also, with a number of candidates, representing a mixture of old and new faces. So I think that today, people have more faith in the Nationalist Party…

Again, however: there are ironies in all this. Simon Busuttil had commissioned a report into the 2017 defeat. It concluded that the PN had attached too much importance to ‘certain bloggers’ [a clear reference to Daphne Caruana Galizia, at the time]. Isn’t the PN making the same mistake today? Aren’t you once again basing too much of your campaign on ‘certain bloggers’, and ‘certain civil society groups’ like Repubblika?

No.  Definitely not. First of all, I have a lot of respect for Repubblika, as an organization. But they do their own work; we do ours. And in case you didn’t notice: not a single one of our billboards even mentions the word ‘corruption’. Did you see any billboards about corruption, in the last three weeks? No. Why? Because in every house we go into, during our house-visits, everyone is now convinced that the Labour government was the most corrupt we’ve ever seen: both under Joseph Muscat, and now also under Robert Abela; who is not just the ‘continuation’ of Joseph Muscat, but he is also personally involved himself.

The Daphne Caruana Galizia inquiry report, for instance, identified a number of laws that were needed to bolster good governance in this country: including a law to reveal the sources of one’s wealth. Why did Robert Abela not want to implement this law? Why are we now seeing Robert Abela’s name associated with criminals? This is why we don’t bother talking about corruption anymore. Because everybody knows, now. Everyone is convinced that this government is corrupt…

Do people really care, though? They didn’t in 2017; nor even in 2013 (nor, for that matter, in the entire 25 years of PN rule). Meanwhile, the PN itself is often accused of ignoring ‘bread-and-butter’ issues…

Not anymore, however. If you look at our electoral manifesto, you will find that it is based on what the people of Malta and Gozo really need: from when they are babies, until when they are pensioners. What do pensioners want, for instance? That we raise their pensions to the same level as the national minimum wage. What do students want? That we increase their stipends. And everyone wants their [excess] water and electricity bills to be refunded… we’re proposing all of this, in our manifesto.

So you can’t say we’re ignoring bread-and-butter issues. We have policies for [people suffering from] coeliac disease: we will give them 180 euros a month, to buy gluten-free products. We have proposals for cancer patients; fibromyalgia; and other issues which affect people directly, but which no other political party has ever really addressed before…

But just last week, I interviewed [PL deputy leader] Daniel Jose Micallef, and he told me exactly the same thing. (In almost exactly the same words, too.) ‘Pensioners, stipends, electricity bills’… it’s all there. And let’s face it: there’s no real difference between the two parties on other key issues, either. Hunting, for instance. Both Labour and PN agree to retain spring hunting…

That means that [the hunters] know they have peace of mind, with us in government…

Why do you only care about the hunters, though? What about the high percentage of PN voters – much higher than Labour, as it happens – who actually disagree with spring hunting? Why are you ignoring them?

Because we are democratic. Because there was a referendum [in 2015]; and the result of that referendum is still valid today. As a democratic party, we can’t simply ignore that; we can’t change a decision that was taken by the people, in a democratic vote…

Come on,  you’re using that referendum as an excuse. This is a conservation issue: ‘spring hunting’ means ‘shooting birds during the breeding season’. And we are talking about a threatened species [turtle dove] here. Because even if the spring season is only for quail: we all know there’s no real enforcement…

No, we’re not ‘using the referendum as an excuse’. Remember that Malta joined the EU by means of a referendum, too. Would you have us overturn that democratic vote as well? As a democratic party, we cannot just overrule the referendum result…

You’re ignoring the question of sustainability, though. Should an unsustainable practice be maintained, simply because a majority voted for it in an election?

That’s how democracy works. The people decide in a referendum, and political parties have no choice but to respect their decision. Having said this: if someone wants to overturn the result of the 2015 spring hunting referendum… there are ways and means of doing that, too. From our end: the Nationalist Party’s position is to continue respecting the referendum result, for as long as it remains valid.

Let’s turn to the PN’s other proposals. Don’t you think it is a little irresponsible, to be promising so many expensive goodies – tax-cuts for everyone; infrastructural project worth billions, etc. - at a time when war in Ukraine (not to mention the post-Covid recession, and imminent tax-harmonisation) is going to massively impact the local economy? Where’s all this money going to come from, anyway?

I can assure you that ALL our proposals have been thoroughly costed…

… on what basis, though? We don’t know what tomorrow’s economic situation will even look like…

We are basing ourselves on what, and how, we should be spending our money on. Because whoever wins this election: the incoming government will still have to raise, and spend, revenue. And in our case, it is clear where the money will be coming from. We will continue growing the national economy, by creating 10 new economic sectors…

There’s no guarantee you’ll succeed, though. How do you plan to attract those new sectors, anyway, if you can no longer offer generous tax incentives?

Of course, there’s a guarantee! What guarantee did we have, when – under a PN government – we successfully introduced so many new sectors? Financial services? I-gaming? And so many more? Unlike other parties, we have credibility when it comes to creating new economic sectors. How many new sectors did the Labour government create, since 2013? None at all. We, on the other hand, are proposing 10 new sectors that will continue helping us to build up a strong economy.

Meanwhile, those tax-cuts you mentioned will help us generate more revenue. Because when you ‘arrange’ the tax brackets a little… people will have more money to spend…

Sorry, but you’re talking as though we are living in ‘normal times’. But we’re not, are we? The rest of the world is bracing itself for massive inflation; energy crises; food shortages... Shouldn’t you be doing the same?

Bear in mind that the electoral programme we’re talking about, was published three weeks ago. You can’t expect it to cater for events that happened more than a week later…

OK, but now those events have happened: will you be scaling back your promises accordingly? Wouldn’t it be more responsible, to be telling us to ‘tighten our belts’?

We are, and have always been, a very responsible party. Just look at our record: our past is a guarantee of our future…

What? Surely, it’s the other way round: the past is NOT a ‘guarantee of the future’. (Otherwise, the PN would still be in power today, wouldn’t it?)

No, what I meant is that: every time there were financial or economic crises in the past, under Nationalist governments, we always rose to the occasion.  That is why, when [former German Chancellor] Angela Merkel came to Malta, she told Lawrence Gonzi to his face that: ‘in this little island of ours, you have managed to perform miracles’.

So now that the country is once again facing the possibility of another crisis: whom do you trust more, to weather it? The fact that we have so much credibility, in this sector, means that the people will look to the Nationalist Party – and not to Labour – to once again guide the country through difficult times.

Can you really back that up, though, when the PN is still struggling to just keep itself together? On the first day of this campaign, there were three resignations – Kristy Debono, Clyde Puli, Claudio Grech. Won’t this have an effect on the result? And besides: why is it still so difficult to bridge that divide, anyway?

But it’s not difficult at all. We have managed to bridge that divide. Just come to any of our activities, and you’ll see all Adrian Delia’s people there… offering their own support to the party….

… in their own campaign T-shirts, though. (And Delia even got ‘scolded’ for it, too).

That was because our party regulations prohibit individual candidates from running their own campaign. But come on, that episode was completely overblown. Once again, come to our activities: you’ll see what the atmosphere is like today. You’ll see how Adrian Delia and Bernard Grech are… I won’t say ‘hugging each other’; but you know what I mean. This impression you have, that the party is ‘divided’… it’s not true at all.

Delia himself is going on house-visits, from door-to-door, to convince voters – especially his own supporters – to vote PN. Now: I don’t deny that the party has gone through a lot of turmoil. If what happened two years ago, never happened; I think the gap, today, would be smaller.

But having said that: we cannot change the past, either. We’re here, now. And we’re seeing the gap getting reduced… with two weeks still to go for the election…

Last question: do you think, realistically, there’s still chance to reduce it all the way?

I believe that, with all the work being done by Bernard Grech, and Adrian Delia, and the whole PN team; and with all the proposals in our electoral manifesto; and with Labour in the corruption crisis it is currently in; and with polls showing so many people still ‘undecided’… I think that there is time enough to convince those former Nationalist voters to come back to us, yes.