Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1104601
17 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 14 APRIL 2019 INTERVIEW credible is the PN on this front? I'm not saying the National- ist government was perfect. We made mistakes. To me person- ally, my biggest disappointment remains that we never solved the cases of Karin Grech and Ray- mond Caruana. I feel let down by this, even because I investigated those murders myself… and es- pecially because those cases re- main an open wound to this day. How is it even possible, that all these years later, the President of the Republic sill mentions those murders in his inaugural ad- dress? To me, it proves that… we failed. We failed. No doubt about it. [Pause] But to answer you on the issue of credibility… how can the Opposition party not criti- cise? How credible would we be if we kept quiet? Today, when you watch TV, or read com- ments online, you often hear people say: 'Because the Nation- alists are going abroad and dam- aging Malta's reputation'. Sorry, but… who is 'Malta'? Is Malta… Konrad Mizzi? Is Malta… the corruption of the Labour gov- ernment? But it is not just 'Konrad Mizzi' or the government that will bear the brunt of the damage. What if we lose our right of veto, because the European Parliament votes to invoke Article 7? Speaking of which: do you agree with Sven Giegold, that it should? No, I disagree completely… Why? You yourself only just argued that 'democracy and liberty are under threat'… But that doesn't mean that steps should be taken against Malta. No, no, no… It was 'yes' to Poland, though. Any reason why steps should be taken against Poland, but not against Malta, when you're arguing we're guilty of the same crime? But the people who are dam- aging Malta are the ones who opened accounts in Panama… not the ones who criticise those accounts. And this is what all the criticism is saying too. The IMF, the EP committees, and all the other entities: they don't just repeat what the PN tells them. They come here, they hold meet- ings with all the regulators, and then they publish reports. And one after another, all the reports say the same thing. So, who re- ally is damaging the country? This brings us back to the poll projections for this EP election. It's my interpretation, but those dismal projections could also be a reflection that the PN's strategy is backfiring. All this constant negativity is inducing electoral fatigue. Would you agree? Not really, no. The polls are what they are… but I don't think the issue we're talking about has much to do with it. To me, the result of any election should be a reflection of good policies, that offer solutions to the country's problems: housing, pensions, social issues, and so on. At pre- sent, the Nationalist Party is still in the process of trying to win back public confidence. The process has begun, as I said… but the polls tell us that we are not there yet. Regarding your own campaign: you recently made a video- blog in Hamrun, Marsa, and elsewhere, highlighting the residents' concerns with (mostly African) immigrants. I will not play the racist card, because – quite frankly – it is altogether too easy… but there is an another angle to this. Companies like Farsons have declared that, without immigrants to fill up jobs for which there is no local supply, they would have to close down. How does your policy vision fit into that equation? What, exactly, are you proposing here? I'm glad you asked me this question, because it's a subject that I feel strongly about. It's also an issue that crops up all the time on house visits. First of all, I will never accept that the Nationalist Party has ever been racist. We have always believed that the refugee from Iraq, who ended up coming here on a rick- ety boat, has to be helped. Not just because of our international obligations; but because he's a human being. The Labour Party, on the other hand, reasons dif- ferently. Let's not forget that Jo- seph Muscat promised to enact a pushback policy… I haven't forgotten that; but nor have I forgotten that the Nationalist government mass- deported over 200 Eritreans, despite warnings that they faced the threat of torture and execution on return. Sorry to be blunt: but people who remember these things may find it a bit rich, to hear you complain about immigration only now… But there was a difference: the Eritreans went through the asy- lum process, and they were not given refugee status. I admit that, with hindsight, it was wrong to deport them… but it remains a fact that the Nationalist govern- ment abided by international law and procedure in that case. Muscat's pushback proposal was also for failed asylum seekers, but I don't want to get sidetracked into individual cases. What I'm asking is: you seem very quick to voice popular concerns about immigration… but what are you actually proposing to do about those concerns? My position on immigration is this: I believe we should help these people, from top to bot- tom. I believe we should pursue a process of integration. And I'm proposing that… the Euro- pean Union has funds for lots of things. For students, for farmers, for fishermen, for this, for that… but it has no funding for commu- nities – not just in Malta, but in Cyprus, Spain, wherever – which are suffering from large influxes. There is no particular pro- gramme for places like Marsa. What I propose is that the gov- ernment invests directly in those localities, so that what is viewed as a burden today, will be viewed as a benefit. The EU could make funds available for that purpose. Apart from that, we also have to look at the economic policies of the present government. This government has adopted a pol- icy of quantity over quality; and is importing foreign workers by the thousands… … but if local industry is telling you they need workers by the thousands? We are not only importing what we need, however. This is where I criticise the government most, in fact: where there is need, I have no issue with importing foreign labour. But we are get- ting people who are accepting lower wages and unacceptable living conditions, with the con- sequence that, instead of raising the standard of living for every- one, we are lowering it. Because the government is concentrating only on certain sectors like con- struction, which involves mass- employment… and this is part of the problem. Nationalist govern- ments made their fair share of mistakes… but no one can deny we also created a lot of new sec- tors and economic niches after 1987. Labour is not doing this. If, God forbid, something happens within the construction sector… God knows what will happen to this country. under threat PHOTOGRAPHY BY JAMES BIANCHI How is it even possible, that all these years later, the President of the Republic still mentions [Karin Grech and Raymond Caruana] in his inaugural address? To me, it proves that… we failed