Nationalist Party leader Adrian Delia has insisted that an independent board of inquiry into whether the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia could have been avoided be set up, as well as calling for more protections for the unborn child and stronger rent control, in an interview on NET FM today.

Delia said that the Maltese and Gozitan people are still waiting for the whole truth behind the murder of Caruana Galizia to come out, and accused the government of dragging its feet in investigating the murder which made headlines around the world. He also said this lack of seriousness in an investigation had ‘broken’ Malta’s reputation with the Council of Europe.

Noting that Minister Carmelo Abela had said a public inquiry would be set up within three months after the Council of Europe had imposed new demands on the government, Delia said that this new board should be appointed by Parliament, and not by the Prime Minister, and should have the mandate to determine whether this assassination could have been avoided.

Delia said that the Opposition had already presented a motion in Parliament so as to establish if the murder could have been prevented.

“The report from the Council of Europe had remarked on the sense of impunity is in this country regarding the murder of Caruana Galizia, that led to international condemnation from various other European and International reports, among them the Venice Commissions, the European Commission, and the GRECO,” the Nationalist Party said in a statement.

Delia also said the government was being ‘hard-headed’ in not including new protections for the unborn child in Maltese law

“The Opposition has voted in favour of the law for Protection of Minors, however, the government has continued to be hard-headed and not include these protections for children in the womb in law. This comes after the Opposition had insisted that protections are extended to the baby in the womb in that the definition of minors also includes the unborn child in the womb. However, the government has not accepted this proposal after already voting against it in the Committee, and refusing to keep a clause that would have meant that any circumstances where a child in the womb is in danger must be reported,” Delia said.

He said that the PN would continue with its politics to protect the unborn child.

Delia also said the current rent control situation had become a ‘social scourge’

Delia said that the Opposition had voted in favour of proposals to reform rent controls in Malta, on condition that it forwards amendments and the law is first scrutinised in Committee.

He called the current situation when it comes to renting in Malta ‘a social scourge’ that Maltese people are going through and that the current rent laws are not going to be able to fix a situation that the government itself created.