‘Abela doesn’t want anyone to challenge his backroom deals’: Bernard Grech

Outgoing Opposition leader Bernard Grech has slammed the government’s planning reform proposals, accusing Prime Minister Robert Abela of making backroom deals with "powerful people". 

The proposed changes would revise the system of filing and adjudicating planning appeals, give the Planning Authority the power to override local plans and ministers the ability to revive dead permits, among other things. 

Speaking during an interview on NET TV, Grech said the government was compromised and that Abela had made a number of promises to developers that would give them even more power.  

“With this law, Robert Abela wants to make it so no one can question the agreements he made with those who continue to take more and more of our country,” he said. 

“This is what is being done by the so-called socialist party that is meant to stand up for the little guy.” 

Grech said that if the proposals are passed, the government would have total control over planning applications, with the courts no longer able to annul Planning Authority decisions. 

“These laws are not for those people who simply want to add a room to their homes.. They are for those who have been given planning permission, only for the courts to rule that the permission was illegal. 

The PN leader also criticised the timing of the proposals, which were presented on Friday, right before parliament’s summer recess. 

“The Prime Minister wants to pass these laws with the least amount of resistance, when people are abroad, busy with village feasts or just resting, so that he can allow a handful of people to seize the nation’s wealth.” 

Grech also referred to a Facebook post by Labour Party President Alex Sciberras, in which he urged the prime minister to adjust the proposals. 

‘Citizenship scheme now resembles what we wanted’ 

Asked why PN had voted in favour of a bill to introduce a citizenship-by-merit system to replace the controversial golden passports scheme, Grech said the new scheme was one that most closely resembled what the party had wanted. 

“Maltese citizenship should be granted to those who deserve it, not those who simply turn up with a bag of cash. Citizenship should have a value and not a price,” he said. 

‘We weren’t consulted on Helena Dalli’ 

Grech also criticised Abela for going back on his word and appointing Helena Dalli as acting president, despite promising to pick a PN candidate. 

“We had agreed that the late Francis Zammit Dimech would be acting president, but instead of honouring that agreement after his death and showing respect, Abela decided to announce to the media that he had appointed Dalli without consulting us first.  

The Nationalist Party has always insisted that anyone who formed part of Joseph Muscat's Cabinet should not hold such a position in view of the findings of the Daphne Caruana Galizia inquiry. 

“Robert Abela does not want unity. He wants to do whatever he likes.”