Newly-elected Nationalist Party leader Bernard Grech will ensure his predecessor Adrian Delia is part of the shadow cabinet he will appoint in the coming weeks.
The new leader made the assurance during an interview on party media on Sunday.
“I will be insisting he [Delia] is given shadowing. I don’t want to lose anyone. Delia was party leader and there were some allegations, but moving forward I will be looking at things and then deciding.
“Delia is still valid, as are those who follow him and just as he opted to stay, they [people leaving PN] should look at him and do the same,” Grech said.
On the rest of parliamentary group, Grech dismissed claims he would be controlling what MPs say, insisting he has always pushed for freedom of expression.
“But when you are part of a team or an organisation, you need to keep in mind that you are part of something. Everyone is free to speak but everything we say and write carries weight and I want what we say to help do good and not cause more disruption,” he said.
As leader, he said he would also be inviting people to Dar Centrali, the party’s headquarters, in order to ensure there is debate at all levels. This, he said, had not been the case in the past.
Referring to a survey published by MaltaToday on Sunday showing the trust gap between the prime minister and the Opposition leader had narrowed and was closest it had been since 2017, Grech said this was the start of the party’s “wounds” starting to heal.
“When you have a wound and you’re bleeding and within a week you see improvements, it’s natural to be happy. And that is the process we’re going through. The survey confirms we’ve started bringing about change but there is more work that is needed,” the PN leader said.
Mizieb and L-Aħrax
Asked whether he would commit to returning Mizieb and L-Aħrax to the people after the management agreement between the hunters and the government, Grech said one had to respect the hobby enjoyed by thousands, although he was not one of them.
But these were vast tracts of public land - Mizieb is three-and-a-half times bigger than Buskett, L-Aħrax more than twice as big. Why had the government held the signing of the deal in secret? What had it been trying to hide?
Such vast areas should be enjoyed by all the people and he was not convinced that would be the case. The agreement, therefore, should be scrutinised by the people and by parliament.
On women in politics, Grech said that although he believed women are more than capable of making it to parliament, it seemed the electorate had yet to understand this.
A little “push” is therefore needed to help increase the number of women in parliament, saying he hoped to see progress on the reform that would ensure better female representation.