The Labour government is giving Malta a reputation of sleaze, Opposition leader Adrian Delia said on Wednesday.
Speaking at the close of the Nationalist Party’s 2019 General Council, Dr Delia said a new European Commission report on Malta highlighted shortcomings in the island’s governance framework which could weigh in on the investment climate.
Corruption in particular, he said, was highlighted as a problematic factor.
“People all over the world read these documents. And this is what they are reading about our country,” he said.
Dr Delia went on to quote a recent article in The Economist which said Malta had joined Cyprus as a jurisdiction rife with dodgy dealings.
“Under Nationalist governments we were a centre of financial excellence, and under a Labour government we have a reputation of financial sleaze. This is [Prime Minister] Joseph Muscat’s legacy,” he said.
The government wanted to convince the country that all was peachy. The harsh reality facing countless families, however, was far from picture perfect.
The problem, Dr Delia said, was that the government did not truly care about the people.
Housing prices, the rental market, and the importation of cheap labour were all impacting people’s lives.
The government seemed to have no plan for youths, and even less of a vision for the elderly.
To make matters worse, democracy was under threat.
Dr Delia said this was not just his political point for speeches– but the opinion of independent authorities that had in recent months sounded warnings over the state of affairs in Malta.
He quoted a recent Ombudsman report into Army promotions, pointing out how it found that the entire promotions system was flawed.
Dr Delia said similar problems existed in the police, and other important bodies like the Office of the Attorney General, which had been usurped by the governing Labour Party.
“Today we say, with a heavy heart, that democracy is not working in this country,” he said.
Dr Delia said the Venice Commission, an advisory body of the Council of Europe, had also found serious shortcomings in the way the country’s democratic structures were functioning.
The PN, he said, would not allow the government to drag its feet on the necessary reforms to strengthen the island’s democracy.
Transparency International had also downgraded the island, and so had an influential expats' magazine, which said Malta was not as good a place for foreign nationals as it used to be.
Dr Delia said it was clear that the Labour government had already lost the support of young voters.
“We believe in the young and we are once again becoming a truly young party,” he said.
At the close of his speech, Dr Delia said the PN would lead the fight against Malta's rising poverty. The PN would not pull the wool over people's eyes as the PL had done, he said.