The Nationalist Party will announce a number of measures before the end of the year which it will bind itself to introduce on the first day of taking office, Opposition leader Simon Busuttil said this morning.

Speaking during an interview on Radio 101, Dr Busuttil said these measures would deal with, among others, ministerial behaviour and meritocracy ensuring that Malta was really a country where there were opportunities for all.

Dr Busuttil spoke about the Mark Gaffarena scandal and pointed out that this was just the tip off the iceberg.

“It is our duty as an Opposition to uncover the other scandals we do not yet know about,” he said.

Dr Busuttil said that the scandal was getting deeper and deeper and Mr Gaffarena had even turned to the courts to keep the owners of the other half of the Valletta property which the government had expropriated from selling it to third parties. This was because he wanted to buy it to make even more money, he said.

“Has the government lost all sense of shame? Had I been Prime Minister I would have taken immediate action,” he said, adding that weeks had now passed and political responsibility had to be shouldered.

Turning to the Zonqor University proposal, he said that the government had still not published the deal with Sadeen Group and this was because it had things to hide.

Moreover, whenever something was uncovered, the government blamed “spies”. So if someone wanted to uncover some wrong doing that took place under the Nationalist administration he was a whistleblower and was granted protection, as should be the case because honesty was the best policy, but if someone wanted to uncover wrongdoing by this government, he was a spy.

This was clear political discrimination and the PN would fight it. It would not allow the government to discriminate with workers on the basis of their political beliefs, he said.

Asked about the situation in Parliament, Dr Busuttil said it was a culture shock for him to come to Malta’s Parliament after nine years in the European Parliament and be insulted and threatened when asking questions.

This had always been the case in the Maltese Parliament but it was more out in the open now since Parliament was being televised.

“I have the duty to ask question to put pressure on the government for things to be done well,” he said adding that even the language used at times was not parliamentary language.

He stressed that the government was not willing to reply to the Opposition’s questions because it was not willing to be transparent, it had things to hide and this was what led to its reaction.

Dr Busuttil said he had expected much better from a government elected with such a strong majority.

Speaking on yesterday pro-environment protest, which he had been part of, he said this was the biggest pro-environmental protest ever held in Malta and it was organised by civil society.

The Nationalist Party, Dr Busuttil said, acknowledged it made mistakes regarding the environment in the past but it had also taken measures that assisted the environment, including through membership in the European Union.

The protest, he said, was also a clear message to the Prime Minister that it was not true that Malta belonged to all but in two years he had given it to the few.

He described as pathetic the reaction of a few who were saying that there were not many people who attended the protest.

He also referred to the encyclical by Pope Francis which is about the environment and in which he called on everyone to do their bit for the environment.

“This encyclical came at a really good time for Malta,” Dr Busuttil said.