Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1197486
17 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 5 JANUARY 2020 INTERVIEW Europe, for instance? What would happen today, if we can no longer import gas? Let's not forget that we are still reliant on factors outside our control. Because Joseph Mus- cat's energy strategy has placed us at the mercy of the private sector. BWSC is owned by Sie- mens. The Electrogas power station is also privately owned. So what happens if there's a col- lapse in the private sector? This is why our proposals are not limited only to a second in- terconnector. We must look at other options, including alter- native sources of energy… Speaking of which: when the PN was last in government there was talk of 'deep-sea windfarms'… which never materialised. What are you proposing, specifically, for renewable energy today? At present we are looking into what other small islands like ours have achieved. There could be options which might cost a lot of money in the beginning, but which would deliver in the long term. But this doesn't mean discard- ing the option of a second in- terconnector. You have to bear in mind that it cost us 480 mil- lion euro to build the Electrogas power station. With European funding, the cost of an inter- connector is around 180-200 million euro. So two intercon- nectors would cost roughly the same as the one power station built by Joseph Muscat… and which turned out to be beset by problems anyway. Not to men- tion all the associated corrup- tion. And don't forget that the agreement binds Malta for a full 18 years… Another aspect is that Joseph Muscat's economic model was based on increasing the popu- lation. More population means higher demand for electric- ity. The stark reality is that this government had no real plan to reach the energy targets that the country needs to operate. Part of Muscat's model involved the controversial IPP scheme, which – with all its flaws – pumped billions into the Maltese economy. The PN is committed to discontinuing this scheme… Definitely, one hundred per- cent. So what do you propose to replace it with? There are a number of other alternative investment schemes we are looking into, which do not devalue the citizenship of our country. We will be giving more details at the right time. All the same, the IPP scheme was instrumental in Malta's economic turnaround, from deficit to surplus. How does the PN intend to address the loss of associated revenue in future? The financial gains have to be counterbalanced by the much more massive drop in the rep- utation of our country. If we manage to install a new gov- ernment, composed of differ- ent people who can restore the confidence Malta has lost… I am convinced that we will suc- ceed in attracting new, depend- able investments, as we used to in the past: leaving Malta with enough financial resources to continue guaranteeing jobs, and to ensure that our GDP contin- ues to increase. After all, we are still an attrac- tive country to invest in. We are still, as we always used to say, a jewel in the Mediterranean: en- dowed with all the advantages – stability, peace, safety, tranquil- ity, etc. – that investors look for. I see no reason for people not to invest in Malta: provided that we take all the steps to repair the reputational damage. I don't think our country needed to resort to this kind of scheme: which literally reduces the value of Maltese citizenship. Your hopes are predicated on a new government – presumably a Nationalist one. Yet as of next Sunday, we will technically have a new administration under different Labour leadership. Would you agree that, under the circumstances, fresh elections should take place to renew the mandate accordingly? The decision to hold an elec- tion rests with the Prime Min- ister. I am on the pitch to play the game… and the game could always involve the new prime minister blowing the whistle, and going for a new election in six weeks' time. So, my position is that the Na- tionalist Party should always be ready to face an election in six weeks' time, regardless of the circumstances. That, in my view, is how you have to oper- ate: because a prime minister can call an election at any time. So the Opposition must always be ready… How ready is the Nationalist Party today? Let me put this way: you can always be better prepared… even financially… This brings me to this week's appointment of Robert Arrigo as interim PN treasurer, after no permanent candidate was found. Is this a reflection of the dire financial straits the party is rumoured to be in? I must correct you there. There have been no difficulties finding a new treasurer. I must emphasise this point: as a party, we took a decision that – until we effect the changes and re- forms we are now committed to, which will take place in next March's general council – we will not appoint a new treasurer. The appointment will be made during the council, as part of the same process of reform. But the PN has been without a treasurer since last October… That's because it was last Oc- tober that the party executive took the decision to postpone elections for party positions [including treasurer] until next March: to give us time to carry on with the ongoing party re- forms. While the internal discussions spearheaded by Louis Galea are still under way, we felt it would be better to make the official appointments at the same time as implementing the reforms… but I have to be careful here, because part of the ongoing re- forms include certain changes in the way the party operates… Are you suggesting that the role of treasurer will be abolished? I'm not saying that; but there will be changes. So it didn't make sense to appoint a treas- urer just for a few weeks… Coming back to the ongoing reform process… do you think the changes will be enough to dispel the doubts that clearly exist surrounding Adrian Delia? Will the newly reformed PN, under the same leadership, manage to turn around its current electoral fortunes? I am confident that, yes, we will succeed. And I say so be- cause it is a choice between the Nationalist Party, and the La- bour Party as it is today… and even as it might be tomorrow: because both Chris Fearne and Robert Abela were also part of the crisis that engulfed Muscat's government. One [Abela] was the Prime Minister's lawyer: in other words, the lawyer of the most corrupt politician in the world… as voted by international jour- nalists. The other [Fearne] was Joseph Muscat's deputy prime minis- ter. Now: I am the deputy leader of the Nationalist Party. If I had even the shadow of a doubt about Adrian Delia's integrity… I would resign. But many people do have doubts about Delia: enough to call for his (and therefore, by extension, your own) resignation… To those people, I say: speak to him. Ask him. I myself asked for an explanation, when there were questions about his tax situation. He showed me all the papers; he explained that he had contested a tax bill; won the case, and paid what he re- ally owed. And the issue is now closed: nobody even mentions it anymore. So I would argue: let's find out the full truth about a person be- fore forming an opinion. Let us consider what Adrian Delia has actually done, in his two years as PN leader: he won his case for the publication of the Egrant report; he opened a case into the Vitals deal – a corruption scan- dal amounting to almost billions. He fought, and won battles in Parliament. He started a process of change within the party, that is ongoing as we speak. So to all his critics, I would ask: where was he wrong, in all the things he has done in the two years since becoming National- ist Party leader? But I think, as your polls sug- gest, that people are beginning to see this. Where, until re- cently, we were scared to even think about the next general election… now, we are talking about the Nationalist Party's new proposals for when it is next in government. Now, we're talking about Adrian Delia as a possible future prime minister. Naturally, there is a lot of work we still have to do. But at the moment, I would say that things are looking up. Photo by JAMES BIANCHI