Adrian Delia pledges 'zero tolerance' to corruption

Adrian Delia has pledged "zero tolerance" to corruption when addressing questions put to him by young people at the Nationalist Party's Independence Day celebrations.

The PN leader was asked how he would react if anybody in his party engaged in corruption, at an activity for young people on the Granaries in Floriana.

Delia said that if someone with whom he shares political intimacy engages in illegal activity, he would not wait a single minute. This is why the country's moral fibre has been eroded, he added.

"Corruption is cancer. Instead of asking who Egrant doesn't belong to, we should be asking who it belongs to," he said.

Despite the event being dedicated to young people, the enclosed space reflected the previous night's turnout made up of a thin crowd of mostly pensioners. 

Though he criticised the Nationalist government in its late phase before losing the election to Joseph Muscat, Delia said that the country did not need to resort to corruption to move forward.

"In 25 years, the PN government made giant leaps in the right direction. So the argument that corruption is a corollary of progress is invalid," he said.

Delia told the crowd that the current government shackled the youths of Malta. He said that the number of university students had decreased because these same students could not cope with their expenses. "I want PN to become youthful again," he said. "As opposition, we have an obligation to renew the party, to have the arrogance of thought."

This is why the environment is such an issue, he said. "It's the largest challenge facing this nation. Our children can't keep living in the shadow of tall buidlings. They have a right to enjoy the environment."

Delia said that the environment would be at the centre of PN politics and that he would make sure that the party is ambitious with regards to the Kyoto 2020 agreement. "Let's invest in sustainable energy," he said. "We have wind, water and solar potential. Let's be adventurous. Let's invest in hybrid cars." 

This government, he argued, is leading the country to environmental disaster.

Delia answered the youngsters' questions with vigour and thanked Moviment Żgħażagħ Partit Nazzjonalista (MŻPN) for pushing for Vote 16, allowing youths who have the legal right to vote. "No taxation without representation," Delia said. "Young people today are exposed to information from the entire world. Their experience is wide."

Delia criticised the government for being consumerist and materialist and for stripping the youth of their value, relying, he said, on quantity and meagre wages to create a surplus.

When asked about abortion, the PN leader said that he would always value life as sacred. "This is something that the PN would never play with." 

He was pleased when a young girl in the crowd said that she aspires to become an MEP. "Good," he replied. "Politics has become a dirty word. It's refreshing to see idealism in politics because ultimately politics is an opportunity to help change our society."