Full Q&A: Alex Borg on PN financing, winning trust, and his father’s influence

As a young boy, he would sit next to his father in Giovanna Debono’s Gozo ministry and watch him engage with people. Not so many years later, ALEX BORG, now 30, has risen to become the youngest party leader in history. He tells Mark Laurence Zammit how he embraced his late father’s style and how he plans to win the next election.

Mark Laurence Zammit: Congratulations on your new role. How are you?

Alex Borg: I’m excited and looking forward to what lies ahead.

MLZ: You won partly because you promised PN supporters you’d win the general election no matter when it comes. Do you really believe you can beat Robert Abela in just a year?

AB: Even in less than a year.

MLZ: That sounds a bit impossible to me.

AB: Nothing is impossible. The reality is there’s a huge segment of the country that has lost all faith in politics – in both the Labour Party (PL) and the Nationalist Party (PN). There are around 100,000 people who don’t vote and that number is increasing. They want a new era of politics that represents their thoughts and needs.

MLZ: But no one has been able to attract them. Not the PN nor the smaller parties. What will you do differently?

AB: This is the start of a new chapter for the PN and the country. For the first time, the PN was progressive enough to elect the youngest party leader in history. This is no joke. PN supporters were brave enough to take that risk, which shows we’re making a step forward in how we portray ourselves. But it’s also about how we do politics. It’s about bringing about the generational change I always spoke about. This isn’t just a change in faces; it’s about how we see society and politics today, and how we re-engineer the party’s values to address today’s reality.

MLZ: You’re proposing things like unity, inclusivity and new economic sectors. Your predecessors, including Bernard Grech, spoke about the same things. How will you succeed where they didn’t?

AB: I look forward; I can’t be tied to what happened in the past. People are seeking a party that is truly forward-looking.

MLZ: You’ve said that getting young people on board is a priority. But you’re a conservative. How will you attract young people, many of whom are liberals?

AB: I’m only conservative in some respects but liberal in others. I’m all for civil rights, for instance, and I acknowledge that Labour made great strides in that regard, and we must continue to strengthen them. The cannabis law is another example. I won’t repeal that law if I’m in government but we must strengthen awareness campaigns, fight drug trafficking and bolster enforcement.

MLZ: Okay, is there a progressive law you would push for if you were in government? Perhaps some new civil right, euthanasia or abortion? How will the PN be more liberal under your leadership?

AB: On euthanasia and abortion, we must have empathy but that doesn’t mean we change our values. Our values are clear in the statute, which states we are in favour of life from conception until death.

MLZ: But what if many of those 100,000 non-voters are in favour of abortion? Wouldn’t you be losing out on their votes?

AB: I’m against abortion but I’m in favour of debate. That’s partly why I want to set up a national convention in my first 100 days as leader, where people from all walks of life can come together and discuss. But that doesn’t mean we change our values in a populist way.

MLZ: You often say you want to be inclusive for everyone. 

AB: Inclusive to those of good faith. By now I’ve met many people, and I’ve started to figure out who wants to work in good faith and who only wants it to serve some personal interest.

MLZ: Let me mention three people who probably believe they’re acting in good faith: Jason Azzopardi, Edwin Vassallo and Franco Debono. Are you open to them?

AB: It doesn’t matter who they are but it’s up to me to see whether they want the best for our country. As long as I believe they will be of an added value to the PN and the people, I don’t mind who they are.

MLZ: There were rumours you offered a leadership role to Franco Debono. Is that true?

AB: I haven’t offered any role to anyone so far.

MLZ: Not even to Adrian Delia?

AB: I’m still meeting with each of the MPs and I will need to announce the new shadow cabinet in a few days, but the roles aren’t set yet.

I am a liberal in some respects- Alex Borg

MLZ: Eddie Fenech Adami famously had Richard Cachia Caruana and Fr Peter Serracino Inglott among a core team of big brains. Who are yours?

AB: I’ve already chosen them. Today I was in discussions with the people who will be campaign manager and party CEO.

MLZ: Who are they?

AB: I won’t say yet. I want the party to announce them when it’s time.

MLZ: You talk a lot about overpopulation and overdevelopment. Where are you on migration? Will there be fewer people from other countries living and working in Malta if you’re prime minister?

AB: I already said during the campaign how we can reduce the population without being populist or racist. We can reduce our need for foreign workers. One such sector is healthcare. We get a lot of healthcare professionals from abroad but there are solutions to incentivise Maltese people to get into these professions.

MLZ: But Maltese people already have jobs. They don’t need you to give them a job in healthcare.

AB: If we give them better conditions, more Maltese people will want to work in healthcare. We also losing health professionals who are leaving Malta to work in countries with better working conditions. If I’m elected, I will raise the stipend for healthcare students to the national minimum wage to encourage more people to get into the sector. And the moment they graduate, we would guarantee them a job in the public health sector.

MLZ: The government already does that. All of them find a job immediately.

AB: Many are leaving for countries with better working conditions. That means the government isn’t offering conditions that are good enough. That’s why I will pursue Delia’s fight for those €400 million from the hospitals deal – to get them back and inject them into salaries for our healthcare workers. As for overpopulation, I suggested a labour market study to see what kind of workers we need.

MLZ: Again, the government already did that last year and even issued a labour migration policy.

AB: But the truth is nobody knows the real situation. We don’t know how many foreign workers we have, which sectors need them the most and where we can incentivise locals to do that work instead.

MLZ: There’s a limit to how much you can reduce foreign workers before you stunt economic growth.

AB: That’s why we need the labour market study – so we know how many workers we have and which sectors we need to invest in the most to grow the economy. The current system is flawed and is allowing foreign workers to stay irregularly in Malta. We need the political will to truly fix it.

MLZ: Many people are doing well under Labour. The economy is strong and they’re making good money. Even if they don’t really like Labour, they’re comfortable. What they want from you is a guarantee that the economy will be as strong or even stronger if you’re prime minister. Are you confident enough to guarantee that?

AB: Labour did well in that regard but its short-term vision made the economy totally dependent on foreign workers. As a result, we’ve lost our quality of life. We’re plagued with traffic, long lines at the hospital emergency, crumbling education and infrastructure systems, lack of clean, open spaces, overdevelopment, littered streets, and over-tourism. We have money but we’ve lost our quality of life, and people are crying out for a party that offers them a better quality of life. It’s no use having money in your pocket if you don’t have a good quality of life.

MLZ: But can you guarantee the economy would be as strong, or even stronger, under the PN?

AB: History proves that. The economy always exploded under PN governments. When Joseph Muscat was elected in 2013, he built on the biggest economic sectors the PN introduced – shipping, aviation, financial services, pharmaceuticals and so on. He invested in them because he believed in the vision of a PN government. And that’s what I want to do now – invest in new economic sectors for the future, such as artificial intelligence (AI), e-sports and 3D printing.

MLZ: Will we have less development if you’re prime minister?

AB: Labour’s biggest mistake was that instead of combining progress with the environment, it pulled them apart. From my first day in parliament, I want to pressure the government to seriously revise local plans, which haven’t been revised since 2006. The reality today is that we’re building towers when we don’t even have a skyline policy.

MLZ: Where should we build towers and where shouldn’t we?

AB: It’s not my competence to decide that. We must discuss it with planning experts – as we should discuss a skyline policy and an aesthetic board that makes decisions on the character of new development. These are imperative if we want to preserve the golden egg, which is our identity. Without this, we attract low-quality tourists and increase pressure on infrastructure and residents.

PN voters were very brave to elect the youngest leader- Alex Borg

MLZ: As soon as parliament reconvenes next week, you’ll be facing a contentious planning reform. What parts of it will you be opposing? 

AB: I am yet to discuss it with Stanley Zammit, who is the PN’s environment spokesperson, and in the coming days, we will announce our position.

MLZ: What will the local plans look like if you’re prime minister?

AB: Firstly, we must preserve the Outside Development Zone as it is and make sure we don’t eat more of it. That would put people’s minds at rest.

MLZ: Why do people have the impression you’re close to big business?

AB: I don’t know where they get it from. I am friends with everyone but I’m in nobody’s pocket. In fact, just after I was sworn in as opposition leader, I immediately said I would be pushing to pass party-financing laws through parliament. There’s a lot we can change – transparency, accountability and a capping on donations from the private sector, for instance.

MLZ: Richard Cachia Caruana said you should ban donations from big businesses.

AB: We can’t do that with the current system because that’s the only form of income for parties. That’s why we’ll push for this law to go through.

MLZ: Did you get donations from big business for your leadership campaign?

AB: I’ll publish everything in the coming days – on every donation and all spending. But most of my campaign was paid for by my family.

MLZ: How much did you spend?

AB: I don’t know honestly because I wasn’t in charge of the accounts. I had help from my partner and my family for that. But I will be publishing it all.

MLZ: Adrian Delia on F Living demanded answers to issues he raised in the letter questioning the eligibility of 100 voters. Can you promise him the party will accede to his request?

AB: I have full faith in the electoral commission, and if there’s a shortcoming, I have no problem...

MLZ: But will you be dealing with the issues he raised?

AB: It’s not my place to step on the commission’s work. I can’t interfere with that process.

MLZ: Would you like Delia to be your deputy leader?

AB: We will be announcing all the new roles in the coming days.

MLZ: Labour granted many jobs to many people. Will you be taking away those jobs?

AB: I will guarantee a different economic vision that guarantees jobs that pay more so that people won’t need two jobs to keep up with life. Families today must work two jobs to make it to the end of the month but I will create a system that pays you enough with your one job.

MLZ: When are you publishing the party’s accounts?

AB: Within the first 100 days. The auditor is going through them now.

MLZ: You’re walking into an office from which several smart people before you tried to win an election and failed. What were they doing wrong and how will you do it differently?

AB: I believe the generational change I’m bringing to the party will win us the election. We have a reality today that young people aged 16 to 30 don’t relate to politics. Through this generational change, we must show them that there is hope for the future – that there’s a party that is safeguarding their rights.

MLZ: And you think you can do it in a year before the election?

AB: In a year? Even in a month. If we truly do politics in good faith and address their needs, we can convince them even in a month.

MLZ: I admire your ambition but do you really think you can win the election in a month?

AB: If we address issues well, we can make great inroads. Young people have lost all faith in politics and social media has an enormous outreach. If the party uses social media well and gets the message across to everyone and addresses the greatest pains out there, we can make great inroads and start convincing people. One hundred thousand people don’t vote. Imagine convincing just 30 per cent of those – imagine the impact. And I’m only saying 30 per cent, not even half of them. It’s not that hard to sway them if you truly show them you’re doing it in their interest.

MLZ: Your late father was a political animal. He dedicated his entire life to politics but unfortunately wasn’t lucky enough to see you rise to the top of the party. How do you think he would have felt? And did you ever tell him you wanted to get into politics and perhaps become leader?

AB: We never discussed me becoming leader. He would only tell me to finish school and graduate before going into politics. He saw me graduate as a lawyer from hospital but then he died. When I was young, I would show him I was interested in what he did. I would be with him at the Gozo ministry and I would see how he would engage with people. That’s why I know what kind of politics people out there want. They want politics that serves and respects everyone, and I believe that’s why I made inroads in Gozo, because I embraced my father’s politics. It was no rocket science. I did nothing special, except that I was in touch with people and I never closed doors to them, even if they supported Labour.

The interview was edited for clarity and brevity.

Watch the full Times Talk interview on Times of Malta website.