Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1211430
personalities, different talents, different ideas… Do you think it's possible to build a bridge between Adrian Delia and, say, Jason Azzopar- di? Actually, Adrian Delia and Jason Azzopardi do work to- gether on a number of issues. We have to make sure that they work on further issues togeth- er; and that they, like all the others, feel an equal sense of belonging to the party. That brings us back to Delia's claim that a 'clique' is attempt- ing to hijack the party. Do you agree that there is an ongoing coup against Adrian Delia? I don't think that any 'clique' has taken over the party at any stage of the situation. I think the party belongs to all of us, and we should not put any la- bel on any part of the party or other. As far as I know, Adrian Delia puts far more emphasis on the need to work together; and on being open himself to all people working alongside him as leader. That is the emphasis I would place, with regard to Adrian Delia. Realistically speaking, though: what chance does he have of reuniting the PN? Well, we need to sit down and work together. [Pause] I never give up. I like to see difficulties as challenges, and challenges as opportunities. The only real- ity we can talk about today, is that this is the first day of the future of the Nationalist Party. We have 140 years of history to be very proud of: let's build on that. Let's move forward. Let's regenerate. Let's really carry out our reform process… On that point: Adrian Delia has been PN leader for almost three years now, and this re- form has still not begun. Why is it taking so long? It's not as though they hav- en't been any changes since the leadership election. But the re- form process I am talking about now – and by that, I mean the report that Louis Galea was asked to conduct for the party, by Adrian Delia – was triggered after the MEP elections last July. And it is a process that is now approaching its tail-end… But we haven't seen any changes so far. The vacant administrative posts were supposed to be filled last No- vember, but the election was postponed to March. Is the PN just postponing all its difficult decisions? We're not 'postponing'. The reform process has already been discussed within the par- liamentary group. On Saturday [yesterday] the executive com- mittee will be meeting to dis- cuss the reform process, with a very thorough presentation by Louis Galea. The moment there is agreement on that – and I do not envisage particular difficul- ties – we will present the rec- ommended reforms to our con- sultative assemblies: which are what you might call sub-groups of the General Council. Over the coming weeks, the Gen- eral Council should adopt the reforms that are being recom- mended. Will these reforms will be enough to resolve the PN's current predicament? The reforms will certainly help, but they can never be seen as a paper exercise. Obviously, success will depend on positive implementation; and on their being taken up, on a collective basis, by each and every one of us. When announcing his resig- nation, an embittered former deputy leader Robert Arrigo commented that the PN has been 'taken over by hatred'. Do you agree with that assess- ment? When there are disagree- ments – and you can apply this even to people who are very close friends – sometimes, you get an element of animosity. But that does not mean we cannot overcome it; and as I always state, the way to over- come it is to work together, to make sure that there is a sense of belonging for each and every one of us. What I would like to see happening, in this regard, is that we move from what I call a 'blame-game', to a 'mer- it-game'. If there is a problem, I don't want to hear wheth- er it's the fault of this or that person. It's about time we start asking ourselves the question, whose merit is it? Who is do- ing more to solve the prob lem? The moment we focus on that, I don't think there will be more animosity of any nature. If anything, I think there will be healthy competition, so that we really get positive results to- gether. It's a fine pep-talk, but some might also call it 'being in denial'. Do you really believe those words yourself? Yes, I do. I am not in any state of denial; had I been in denial, I would not have come forward to offer all my expe- rience, and all the help I can give, to address these situa- tions. Mine is not a state of denial: I am a realist. But, be- ing a realist, I also know that we have to resolve these issues to move forward. It would be a 'state of denial' to argue that these problems simply cannot ever be over- come at all. That would mean giving up… and I am not the type of person to give up. 9 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 16 FEBRUARY 2020 INTERVIEW Morality should never determine the limit of free speech. Nonetheless, ethical lines do exist: and the culture of a country will often determine where they are drawn