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FULL INTERVIEW: Delia Admits To ‘Damning’ Polls But Says He Is Not Discouraged

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PN leader Adrian Delia has admitted that the latest political survey is “damning” in his regard but he will not be discouraged.

“I will learn every single lesson that there is from that survey and delve deeper, but also be encouraged to take bolder decisions,” he told Lovin Malta in an interview carried out on Tuesday.

Delia is facing mounting calls for resignation following the MaltaToday survey that put his trust rating to just 13.5%.

Asked whether he corrected any of his mistakes since the poor results at the last MEP elections, he said: “I don’t think it’s a question of mistakes. It’s a question of whether we’ve changed enough.”

He added: “There are those who think I did not change enough. There are those who think I did not retain enough.”

Asked what his greatest achievement as PN leader has been, Delia said it was convincing a court to grant him access to the Egrant report, which proved the Attorney General had created a political imbalance.

The report could not prove that the Panama company Egrant belonged to the Prime Minister.

“I think there is much more to be discovered,” he said, when asked whether the report’s publication was anti-climactic.

Meanwhile, Delia admitted that one of his biggest mistakes was the way he tackled the Egrant issue in 2018 with regard to his predecessor Simon Busuttil who had been made to step down from the Shadow Cabinet for having made the Egrant allegations his own.

“It wasn’t really asking him to step down. It was more complicated than that. And I don’t want to reignite that discussion. But I think it wasn’t the right thing at that time or the way it was handled,” Delia said.

Asked about the national discussion on domestic violence that was triggered by the murder of Chantelle Chetcuti last week, Delia said: “I think we need to change a lot, not only laws, but the way we look at and the way we treat females.”

He refused to delve into the accusations of domestic violence he himself was facing from his ex-wife.

“That is not an issue I will discuss because I am obliged not to do that,” he said.

Asked to name a single policy the PN had formulated under his leadership, Delia mentioned the good governance proposals on rule of law.

When confronted by the fact that those were a rehash of Busuttil’s proposals, Delia said: “Not only. They were feeding on those, bringing in new ideas and reacting to the situation in the country. But basically it’s a blueprint to what our country needs at this point in time.”

Delia then mentioned the party’s position on declaring a climate emergency and the party’s pre-budget document as well as the MEP election manifesto.

Asked whether he would consider formulating a policy on abortion for when the discussion picks up, so as not to be caught off guard as the party was on divorce and gay rights, Delia claimed there were no dissenting voices in the party to rethink the policy against abortion.

Questioned about his MP Kristy Debono’s admission that she rarely worked for her government job, Delia said this was an issue of whether it was time to have full-time MPs.

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Christian is an award-winning journalist and entrepreneur who founded Lovin Malta, a new media company dedicated to creating positive impact in society. He is passionate about justice, public finances and finding ways to build a better future.

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