Nationalist Party leader Adrian Delia has accused Prime Minister Robert Abela of using the State broadcaster to foment racism in an attempt to split the Opposition.
Interviewed on Net Television on Sunday, he said it was rather contradictory that the government was trying to make the case it could not receive more migrants, when it had been promoting the country as a destination for "slave labour" for foreigners.
“In the last 48 hours we assisted to a prime minister who deliberately chose to fuel racism and fear in an attempt to take advantage of the current situation to divide the opposition and the country,” he said.
Delia was referring to a televised statement on TVM which the prime minister gave on Friday night in which he lashed out at the Opposition on various fronts.
The Opposition leader insisted that nobody should be allowed to drown even if the country’s resources were being stretched.
“The real discord is not on whether to save these people, but on their subsequent relocation,” Delia said.
However, he said it was quite ironic that government was saying it had no more room to accommodate migrants reaching Malta by boats, when it had been “inviting” around 50,000 foreign workers each year for “slave labour”.
Delia recounted that he has been expressing concerns about overpopulation for years as a result of government’s economic policy not illegal migration.
He also criticised the government for not lobbying with other EU states on migrant relocation agreements.
The Opposition leader reiterated that the PN had nothing to do with the action taking by Repubblika, which filed a criminal complaint against the Armed Forces over government’s refusal to rescue migrants stranded at sea, and the alleged sabotage by army personnel of a vessel carrying asylum seekers.
Such accusation had been made as the criminal complaint had been filed by four lawyers including Opposition MP Jason Azzopardi. Delia insisted Azzopardi was not representing the party but signed the complaint in his professional capacity as a lawyer.
The Opposition leader commended the sterling work being done by the army and the police but pointed out that this did not mean not flagging any suspicions or reports of wrongdoing.
“Labour does not make distinctions. It attacks everybody who disagrees with it,” he said.
Delia also lashed out at the government over the hospitals' concession agreement which he said had cost taxpayers €260 million.
“Instead of being given the 900 hospital beds as promised, the government is fretting over the possibility of not having enough beds to the point that it wants to build a prefabricated hospital,” he said.
This “criminal” deal, he said, was made even worse by a clause which, if government had to rescind, there would be a €100 million fine.
The Opposition leader questioned why Robert Abela, in his capacity as the consultant of his predecessor Joseph Muscat, had agreed with such clause.