Opposition leader Bernard Grech described the Nationalist Party as a broad church that values anyone willing to work towards Malta’s interests in his speech closing the party's week-long general council.

In contrast, he accused Labour of buying people’s silence.

“I am interested in your value, not your price. Labour thinks it can buy everyone.”

The PN leader said he is willing to welcome anyone who wants to advance the cause they believe in, saying the party will make these causes its own. 

“We do not want to impose ourselves on anyone through a top-down approach. We are not like Robert Abela.”

Grech said it was through an intersection of ideas that the PN learnt how to compromise and move forward. 

Critics welcome

The PN leader welcomed Lovin Malta’s founder Christian Peregin’s decision to join the party who he described as a former Labour voter who recognised the only way to drive change in the country was via the Nationalist Party. 

“Chris, as a journalist, criticised me and the party, as should be done in a democracy. I ask him to keep up this criticism. Such criticism can only do good.”

He urged people to use the PN as their tool for change. 

“The change people want is not just about who is minister or prime minister, or which party is in government. The change we want is for our children to live better lives.” 

Grech questioned how a better future could be guaranteed for younger generations with the way Malta is being led now.

He listed a litany of problems facing the country, including the Financial Action Task Force’s decision to greylist Malta, environmental degradation, direct orders to the government’s inner circle, and the discounted sale of public hospitals. 

The PN leader said the country needed a complete overhaul of the way things are done, and people should no longer be subject to the whims of ministers when they were in need. 

“I do not agree with the saying: ‘people get the government they deserve’. The Maltese deserve better. The Maltese want better. We want to give them a better choice.”

New faces

He vowed the Nationalist Party would fight on behalf of every single citizen, saying the party has big ambitions, and its destiny is to again lead the country.
To do this, the party needs to believe in itself, he said.

Grech said space was being created within the PN’s structures to welcome new officials like Mark Anthony Sammut, elected president of the general council, as well as prospective secretary general Michael Piccinino.

He vowed more changes were yet to come, including a new forum at village and town level to encourage people to offer their advice and ideas to the PN. 

Turning his guns on Labour, Grech said the party that was elected to stamp out corruption was now being accused by one of its own of making it worse.

Referencing a Times of Malta opinion piece by Labour councillor Desmond Zammit Marmarà, Grech said Labour insiders were now calling out former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat for doing more harm than good to the country.

He said the PL which branded itself as the progressive party has lumped Malta with the same problems it struggled with 30 years ago, like corruption, a poor electricity supply and political discrimination. 

On the recent handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, Grech said the government had first prioritised tourism, then upon realising it had gone over the top, went back to prioritising health. The result of this was flight cancellations and disruptions to people’s lives. 

The PN leader concluded his speech with a rallying cry for the party. 

“It is possible for the PN to be the government you always wanted. For the election not to be about a choice between the lesser of two evils, but a choice based on extraordinary conviction because you, like me, have belief in yourself, and you, like me, believe in Malta," he said. 

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