Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1521974
9 maltatoday | THURSDAY • 6 JUNE 2024 MEP ELECTION 2024 leaders go head-to-head in only election debate inquiry to be held into the death of Jean Paul Sofia. "Abela told Isa- belle Bonnici [Sofia's mother] we were using her. When we work for you, they call us negative." Meanwhile, Abela said he be- lieves politics should be centred around people's needs, and the Labour Party in government will work to improve on previous achievements to better people's lives. "On the other hand, we have an Opposition that only provided a one-page document with 500 words as a manifesto," he said noting that issues like migration were left out. On the situation in Palestine, and whether the EU should in- crease military spending, Grech pointed out that Abela had signed several council resolu- tions to increase military spend- ing in the EU. "So don't come here with this hypocrisy saying that we want war, and you want peace." Abela later pointed out that EP President Roberta Metsola, who is a Nationalist MEP, had gone to Israel 'prematurely' after the October 7 Hamas attack. "35,000 lives have been lost in Palestine and even in Israel. That day she made a wrong decision. The mes- sage she sent that day resulted in serious consequences. We had insisted on a permanent cease- fire." Abela said he was always clear in Brussels that Malta would not support any European Council resolutions that do not respect Malta's neutrality. Grech rebutted Abela on this, saying that the Palestinian Em- bassy in Malta has praised Met- sola in the past for her work on the issue. Environment and economy When asked about the envi- ronment, Grech recalled a Na- tionalist Party proposal to make the environment a fundamental right. However, this proposal was put on the shelf by the governing Labour Party. However, Abela said the Oppo- sition is failing to acknowledge that it was the Nationalist Party that, in 2006, "placed an area the size of Siġġiewi in Malta's devel- opable zone". Instead, Abela said the key is to have a holistic plan when it comes to the environment and to development. Grech later said Malta has one of the lowest rates of renewable energy and went on to remark on the need to create new sectors – something which the Labour government is failing to do, he said. "That's why the electricity goes off, sewage spills into the sea, people get stuck in traffic. This is all due to a lack of vision from the government." Abela pointed out that the Na- tionalist Party had proposed lib- eralising Malta's energy market, which Abela says would have resulted in higher consumption prices. Grech said Abela is not one to talk about market liberalisation, after it was a Labour government that sold off its BWSC plant to Chinese investors. Good governance Asked about his party's financial accounts, Grech said the Nation- alist Party is working on them, but it's a process that takes time. Later in the debate, Abela ridi- culed this and said it's taken years for the party to submit any ac- counts. He said this doesn't bode well for the party's ability to take important decisions in the short- er term. Grech then turned to the Vi- tals hospitals deal and showed a print-out of an email sent to Ab- ela in 2021. In that email, accord- ing to Grech, someone within the deal told Abela that it was a fraudulent deal. "Abela ignored it and continued to give them money. He didn't try to open an investigation," he said. "Everyone has a right to defend himself, but you had an obliga- tion to defend the public," he said. "Instead of attacking the crimi- nals, you attacked the courts and journalists." Abela said his government had helped implement several re- forms in the name of good gov- ernance. "Meanwhile, David Casa wrote to the ECB attacking a fellow Maltese citizen," he said, refer- ring to Edward Scicluna. "Peter Agius wrote to an EU vice-com- missioner to try and deprive Mal- ta of its voting rights." Malta in the European Union Grech said if it wasn't for the Nationalist Party, Malta would not have received any money from the European Union. "You didn't want to be members of the EU, and you say we don't want European funding?" Grech said Malta is last when it comes to the absorption rate of European funds. "You know why? Because when you don't have a plan, you can't invest." Abela then criticised the Op- position leader's position in favour of European expansion, and pointed out that a lot of money negotiated by the La- bour Party in recent years might be lost. "Did you take that con- sideration before making a hur- ried stance?" "On voting day there is a clear choice between me and Grech. A choice between Nationalist Party candidates and those in the Labour Party. To us, you always come first. To us, the priorities and aspirations of the public are our priority. That's why I ask you to give me anoth- er mandate so that this work can continue," Abela concluded. Prime minister Robert Abela (left) and Opposition leader Bernard Grech faced off in the in their only debate in the run- up to Saturday's MEP election