Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1533584
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 23 MARCH 2025 4 INTERVIEW Charles Bonello: 'PN cannot forget values on which it was built' While adapting itself to modern realities, the Nationalist Party cannot forget the val- ues on which it is built, new Secretary Gen- eral Charles Bonello believes. He sits down for an interview days after being confirmed in the post by the Nation- alist Party's Executive Council. Bonello, who still serves as personal as- sistant to former premier Lawrence Gonzi, believes his connection to the last Nation- alist administration, which ended up los- ing the 2013 general election with a 36,000 vote-gap, will not a be a hurdle to success. "Judge me on what I will do," he tells me. "What I can guarantee is that I will do my utmost to continue moving the party for- ward." He also insists he is not ashamed of his connection to the former prime minister. "I would be ashamed if Gonzi received the award for corrupt person of the year," he tells me, in a swipe at former Labour leader Joseph Muscat. Bonello praised the work of previous Nationalist administrations, saying they built the economic landscape on which the "Malta of today" works. He does concede that mistakes were made in the runup to the 2013 general election, but says the stars aligned for a Labour vic- tory that year. He points to the Labour Par- ty having a new leader, and the PN spend- ing more than two decades in power. On a recent parliamentary motion filed government, in which it condemned Op- position MP Karol Aquilina's attitude to- wards the Speaker, Bonello said it was akin to how Labour administrations acted in the 1980s. "Government is sending the message that when it has the majority, it can bully the minority," he tells me. He defends the de- cision by PN MPs to abandon parliament, stating they did so to defend the country's democracy. Questioned on reports by Labour media that the walkout was a compromise fol- lowing disagreement within the PN's par- liamentary group on how to vote, Bonello insists the Opposition should be judged on its actions. "All our MPs walked out of the House because the parliamentary group did not want to be part of that discussion, which was an attack on the parliamentary democ- racy of this country," he says. "Judge us by our actions." Charles Bonello is the Nationalist Party's new secretary general. A personal assistant to former prime minister Lawrence Gonzi, he insists he had nothing to be ashamed of. He sits down with Karl Azzopardi to discuss the party's values and the need for more discipline. Anyone has the chance to work in the different party structures. I believe that everyone has the potential to contribute, even those who might not agree with me. The party is not mine; it is everyone's party.