The coronavirus pandemic should serve as an opportunity for the government to review a number of important matters such as air pollution, tourism and quality of life, Opposition leader Adrian Delia has urged.
Speaking on NET FM on Sunday, Delia said that while the government looks at the way forward once the outbreak that has brought the world to its knees passes, it should take the time to look at ways to improve things.
“We said that we need to look at the post-COVID-19 recovery plan. We asked that all stakeholders come together to discuss the country’s return to normality. But this might not necessarily be that we return to what we had before the pandemic,” Delia said.
In recent weeks, as more people shifted to working from home, pollution decreased and so the government should look at ways to ensure that once the pandemic subsides, the country’s air quality does not go back to the way it was before.
Encouraging the government to “look at the opportunities”, Delia also criticised the way stakeholders were not being involved in talks on exit strategies.
“What about quality tourism? Why not use this time to try and find alternative ways of making sure that when all this is over we have quality tourism and not just things to attract the masses?
“This should also be the case with the financial services and gaming sectors…why not use this time to show that we will bounce back better than ever before and restore our reputation abroad?” Delia asked.
On migration, the Opposition leader iterated that Malta could not be expected it to tackle the situation by itself but needed the EU’s help in order to handle the issue.
“We need to have agreements that are not on a one-on-one basis. We need a structure. There needs to be international assistance. If there are hundreds of thousands of migrants…is the EU really expecting us to save all these people? It’s madness,” he said.
Delia also criticised Prime Minister Robert Abela for taking a different stance from Foreign Affairs Minister Evarist Bartolo, saying that the latter was practically saying the same things as the PN.
Abela, he went on, seemed to be undermining the ministers which he chose himself by contradicting what they say at every opportunity. This was something Abela had also been doing to Health Minister Chris Fearne, often saying things that were the opposite of what his deputy says.
“This is not the way you do politics, especially when there are people’s lives involved.”
The PN leader again made assurances that if the party is in government, contracts related to the privatisation of all public hospitals would be cancelled.
Delia also again called on the government to slash utility bills by half, saying it was “immoral” that while international prices were down, the Maltese still had to pay higher prices.