Environment, transport and 'giveaways' take centre stage at leaders' debate

Robert Abela and Alex Borg faced off in the election campaign's first debate on Monday, each telling university students their party will safeguard their future.

Abela and Borg were joined on stage by Arnold Cassola, Sandra Gauci and Paul Salomone, leaders of Momentum, ADPD and Aħwa Maltin, respectively.

Throughout the debate, both Abela and Borg repeatedly taunted each other over their electoral manifestos, as their supporters in the crowd hurled insults at their adversaries across the hall.

Abela questioned why PN had yet to launch its manifesto, prompting Borg to rebut that “had we published it, you would have copied it all”.

Meanwhile, Gauci, Cassola and Salomone slammed the two major parties for the constant giveaways pledged throughout their respective campaigns.

“We will not make science-fiction pledges that will bankrupt the country and turn it into Greece during the worst of its financial crisis,” Cassola told the crowd.

The debate touched upon several issues, from education to the environment and traffic, with each leader reeling off a series of pledges they made throughout the campaign.

Robert Abela and Sandra Gauci at the debate. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

Turning to the environment, Abela pointed to the government's pledges to develop a series of national parks in prime locations.

“Manoel Island is now yours, as is White Rocks, unlike others who gave them away”, Abela told the cheering crowd, receiving a “grazzi Prim” (thank you, Prime Minister) in reply.

Borg was quick to rebut, pointing to a series of environmental pledges made during previous campaigns that never materialised, sifting through photos of as-yet-unrealised plans for gardens in San Ġwann, Floriana, Santa Venera and Ħamrun.

“If you’d like, I’ll give them to you, Prime Minister,” Borg said, waving the photos in Abela’s general direction.

Borg was also on the attack when it came to the government’s transport plans.

“How many of you came here by metro today?” Borg asked the cheering crowd, in a nod to the government’s glitzy metro announcement ahead of the 2022 election.

“We will not continue to study mass transport; we will start implementing it immediately,” he said, reiterating that a mass transport system will start operating within the first PN legislature.

However, he stopped short of outlining the plans when pressed on the issue, pointing to the party's manifesto, set to be launched on Monday evening.

Alex Borg addressing the crowd. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

“Will they get (PN candidate) Oliver Cini to carry out their transport studies?” Abela asked, referring to the marine surveyor behind PN’s proposal for a fuel bunkering hub in the sea.

Cini had initially described himself as an engineer throughout the campaign, only to backtrack once it emerged that he did not hold an engineer’s warrant.

“Why don’t you apologise to engineering students for having a pseudo-engineer write your flagship proposal?” he told Borg.

'Women should not be afraid to make their voices heard'

Meanwhile, Sandra Gauci slammed the “arrogance” of the two parties who, she said, promote a “politics that is slave to business”.

Gauci also outlined how she was the only woman on stage, saying, “I hope there will be more women after me. Women should not be afraid to make their voices heard in the political arena”.

Gauci also brought up a personal anecdote, saying, “Robert Abela’s father and mine were in the same class as children. His father became president, and mine became a cleaner”.

“My father cleaned people’s dirt; now I want to clean up the dirt in parliament,” she said.

Meanwhile, Cassola pitched Momentum as “the voice of reason”, pointing to his own track record over the years.

“Ta’ Ċenċ is as it is today because Cassola and five others went to prison to protect it,” he said.

Arnold Cassola speaking on Monday. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

Cassola also slammed the two housing grants pledged by both parties, saying they only served to increase property prices.

“The problem is not that Malta does not have enough housing, the problem is that we have too many empty properties,” he said, adding that Momentum would push for a tax on vacant property.

Salomone, on his part, brushed off questions from the audience over whether he was happy with the party being labelled far-right.

“We are conservative right and Catholic,” he said.

“I have been called so many things throughout my life, we are not far-right,” he said, before asking why African migrants in distress travelled to Europe rather than one of the several African countries that are not war-torn.

Salomone pitched several of the party's pledges throughout the debate, including a plan for land reclamation upon which to build a Formula One track.

"Land reclamation is a solution for small countries," he said. "The Netherlands reclaimed 60 miles of land, so why can't we?"

Both Abela and Borg congratulated debate moderator, lawyer Chloe Cauchi, who was recently elected the vice president of the European Youth Forum, a first for Malta.