The PN will not be returning to the Floriana Granaries for this year's  Independence Day celebrations and will instead mark the day next to a monument nearby.

Up until 2018, the Nationalist Party's week-long Independence Day celebrations traditionally culminated in a boisterous mass meeting at the granaries attended by thousands of supporters. 

Times of Malta is informed the PN will this year hold a scaled-down 'mass event' by the Independence Day monument.

The area by the monument is significantly smaller and cannot accommodate as many people as the granaries. 

A party spokesperson said the programme of events will be unveiled in the coming days. He told Times of Malta the PN did not want its celebrations to simply be about street parties. Instead, it wanted the celebrations to be of "national relevance". 

Details about the event are still scant, but the spokesperson said there will be "some speeches". 

The party has not held its Floriana Granaries Independence Day mass meeting since 2018, when former leader Adrian Delia was still at the helm. That year, there were fewer people in attendance than in the previous years. 

The following year, in 2019, Independence Day events were held outside the party's headquarters and once again, the number of attendees was lower than usual. 

Scaled-down seated events were held in 2020 and 2021 because of COVID rules. 

Malta marks its independence from the UK in 1964 on September 21.