Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1535522
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 18 MAY 2025 4 INTERVIEW Alex Borg: 'NGOs should not be dictating Nationalist Party agenda' OPPOSITION spokesperson for Gozo Alex Borg believes NGOs should not be dictating the Na- tionalist Party's agenda. Borg tells me his call for the party to disassociate itself from Repubblika does not mean the NGO's work is "bad", but be- cause the PN has a wider role to play. "They [Repubblika] are not the PN. Repubblika is an anti-cor- ruption NGO, but the PN is not just an anti-corruption party, it has to also present itself as a gov- ernment in waiting," he tells me. He insists the PN cannot stop at criticising government, but must offer solutions in order to convince people and get their vote. A figure within the party who has recently stirred up contro- versy, Borg insists he is the target of a campaign by Labour. He be- lieves the PL is doing this because of his success in Gozo. "They want to break me be- cause in the last general election I managed to secure a substantial number of votes; and in the MEP and local council elections for the first time after a number of years, the PN as a team managed to flip Gozo. We had not won Gozo in an MEP election for years, we were still in government when it happened," he tells me. For Borg, any talk on a possible leadership bid is too premature, and while he does not exclude anything in the future, he pledges his loyalty to current leader Ber- nard Grech. He also draws comparisons to when Adrian Delia was ousted from the post, insisting the party should always support its leader till the end. On how the PN can replicate its Gozitan success in other districts, Borg says he does not look at po- litical allegiance when speaking to constituents. "Everyone is welcome. I do not want anyone to be forgotten. Anyone who wants to speak to me, even if they are the biggest Labourite, I will do everything to help them. Yes, I have my po- litical allegiance, but I must help everyone," he tells me. He also speaks of a Gozo with enormous potential, saying its double insularity is not a hurdle but an opportunity. "It's what makes Gozo a diamond in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea." One of the greatest challeng- es facing the island he says is it roads, which Borg says have de- scended into a dilapidated state. "All this while government has reduced capital expenditure by €4.75 million." Opposition Gozo spokesperson Alex Borg tells Karl Azzopardi the PN must not stop at being an anti- corruption party, but offer solutions to convince the electorate it is a government in waiting