Chris Fearne said on Saturday he would seek to overcome the current political crisis facing the country within his first 100 days as prime minister. 

Addressing a press conference on Saturday morning, Mr Fearne unveiled his 10 priorities for the country if he were to take over at the helm of the current Labour administration. 

Mr Fearne, who currently serves as deputy prime minister, is one of two men contesting the party leadership. The other is Labour MP Robert Abela. 

Later on Saturday, president emeritus Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca announced that she was backing Mr Fearne in the race. 

Priority to the rule of law

His first priority, Mr Fearne said, would be the current rule of law and governance crisis, which he described as having caused “anger and disappointment” among the Maltese people. 

Mr Fearne said he would be calling a national rule of law conference that would include the government, opposition, political parties, State institutions, and civil society. 

The conference, which would take as long as needed, would discuss reforms to the way the police commissioner, attorney general, and members of the judiciary are appointed. 

'Not led by business'

The next priority was to “continue on the successes” achieved by the Labour government. Mr Fearne said his prospective government would be open to “investment for all”.  

“We want to work with businesses, but will not be led by business,” he said, adding that meritocracy was his guiding light. 

With that in mind, he wanted to continue working to increase wages, pensions, better education, health, and improve infrastructure. 

Green urban spaces

The third priority was the environment, with Mr Fearne saying that in the coming days he would be announcing an “ambitious plan” for green spaces in the heart of localities and communities. 

“Our forefathers has a better approach, with squares and gardens built into our towns and villages,” he said, adding that he would be working closely with local councils on this plan. 

Equal pay for equal work

The fourth priority was the government’s “social spirit”. Mr Fearne said he would work to promote equal pay for equal work, particularly between workers employed by private contractors and the government. This had already been done in the healthcare sector during his tenure as Health Minister.

Preliminary cost estimates indicated that the country could afford to extend this to all other state sectors, he said. 

Immigration

The fifth priority concerned tackling issues related to immigration and foreign workers.

Mr Fearne said the country needed to overhaul its infrastructure, such as sewage, to keep up with the drastically increasing population.

As for the issue of irregular migration, he said that while he would continue to be “compassionate”, Malta needed to show a strong hand. 

Housing

The sixth priory was housing.

Mr Fearne said he would soon be unveiling a detailed plan to address the shortcomings in Malta’s public housing sector, describing his approach as “structured and aggressive”. 

Gozo tunnel and transport

The seventh priority was Transport with Mr Fearne saying he was committed to implementing the Gozo tunnel project. He was also for greener transport that would reduce emissions. 

Cleaning Malta's reputation

The eighth priority was Malta’s reputation in Europe.

Mr Fearne said he would be engaging with European bodies that have been critical of Malta over the past few months and years, such as MoneyVal and Greco. He said his rule of law conference would seek to address this issue.

He said he also plans to work with Maltese MEPs of both parties to start to improve Malta’s European standing. 

Work-life balance

The ninth priority was quality of life. Mr Fearne said that while money was important, it wasn’t everything. If elected as prime minister he would work to improve work-life balance. 

Labour reform

The tenth and final priory was the Labour Party. Mr Fearne said he had a number of reforms in mind to strengthen the party. He also believed in a separation between party and state.