Adrian Delia: ‘It’s not safe to walk the streets under Labour’

Adrian Delia believes Malta’s streets have become unsafe under the Labour administration and promised a Nationalist government would create a “safer, happier and cleaner” country.

The Nationalist Party leader was speaking during a political discussion on the Granaries in Floriana this evening, as part of the party’s Independence Day celebrations.

“It is not safe to walk the streets under Labour, come and walk with us,” he said in a crescendo, as he accused government of lacking a plan for every sector.

Before him, PN political coordinator Jean Pierre Debono said Malta’s streets were witnessing gang fights.

Delia said people were asking what the PN’s solutions were but insisted it was the government’s duty to solve the problems it created.

“If they want the solutions from us then government should step aside. We will go before the people with solutions to make this a safer, happier and cleaner country,” Delia said.

The discussion was being held at the same time that sympathisers of slain journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia gathered in front of the Great Siege monument in Valletta on the 11-month anniversary since her murder.

Former PN leader Simon Busuttil was present for the vigil, during which Adrian Delia’s name was greeted with boos.

Significantly, on the Granaries, the Opposition leader thanked all his predecessors but only mentioned by name Ġorġ Borg Olivier, Eddie Fenech Adami and Lawrence Gonzi, omitting Busuttil.

He pledged that the PN under his leadership will never be cut off from the people again. “The PN did a lot for this country but over time it got cut off from the people and that is something that will never happen again… our doors will remain wide open, not only for Nationalists but for anyone who wants to speak to us,” Delia said.

The PN leader spared no punches as he accused the Attorney General of being a threat to democracy after denying the Opposition access to the full Egrant inquiry.

Delia said he was constrained to go to court over the matter because the AG’s decision to give a copy of the inquiry to the Prime Minister only was causing political imbalance.

The Opposition leader was also critical of the AG’s multiple roles, something that has always been the case.

Delia used the occasion to continue asking questions about what he described as the government’s lack of forward planning. However, like has been the case until now, he desisted from giving solutions, promising instead that these will come at a later stage.

He said with the ever-increasing number of cars on the road, government’s pledge to spend €700 million on road projects over seven years was money down the drain.

He accused the government of lacking a plan for the environment. “The only plan appears to chop down all the trees,” he said, adding the PN would put forward its proposals after thorough studies.

PN deputy leader Robert Arrigo, political coordinator Jean Pierre Debono, local councillor Chris Micallef, international secretary Roselyn Borg Knight and former European Commissioner Tonio Borg also addressed the crowd.

Borg said the time was ripe for the country to declare Independence Day as Malta’s national day and urged the PN to set up its own constitutional convention if the government continued to delay the matter.