Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1545966
6 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 26 JULY 2026 INTERVIEW will be mostly impacted by the commission's work, were not consulted… these are not just conservative organisations; some are conservative, others are liberal, others have no political inclination… We now have the opportunity to go back to the drawing board, discuss it and see how we can make it better and when we have a law that carries with it widespread consensus, we will vote in favour… [our walkout] was a message to the government that it will not steamroll over the Opposition, especially on something where the government requires the Opposition's consensus. Once proper consultation takes place and the necessary amendments are done, the PN will vote in favour. You are saying you will not allow the government to steamroll over the Oppo- sition. You walked out of parliament and you also tabled a motion of no confi- dence in Miriam Dalli. Will we be seeing a more assertive and aggressive Alex Borg and Opposition in this legislature? I will always seek balance. We need to be an effective Opposition to keep the government in check. The government has a mandate for the next five years to implement its promises. We will be making sure that these promises are fulfilled. But we will also be an alternative government that puts forward its own proposals and when we criticise, we do so constructively and put forward solutions. What happened yesterday [the motion of no confidence in the energy minister because of power cuts] was not the result of a one-off incident or something that could not be foreseen. Miriam Dalli was not appointed energy minister in this legislature… when the crisis of electricity outages started in the summer of 2023, we had already warned that unless there was going to be a serious investment plan for the distribution network, we will continue having similar problems every summer. […] The outages were predictable and we had warned about this; certain localities spent hours without electricity. It's not my style to ask for people's heads to roll but the decision to put forward a motion of no confidence in the minister was the result of several warnings we gave; warnings that were made in a National Audit Office report... Ultimately, political responsibility has to be shouldered. An apology does not suffice… You emphasised the need for an auto- matic compensation mechanism when households suffer electricity outages for several hours. Will you be putting forward a private members' bill? We are open to any amendment that can strengthen the voice of the people. Today, we have a compensation system that is not automatic, is stifled by bureaucracy and excludes people… energy is a matter of life or death [for some people]. What would you have done differently if you were in Castille? The Labour government has been in power since 2013. Since then, it had every chance to invest and avoid having such a situation. But it's not just that; who chose to adopt this type of economic growth model? The Labour Party. It went for a model that grew the population; tourism exploded and at the same time it failed to invest in the infrastructure to sustain all this. This is why we now have a faltering hospital with an emergency department that cannot cope and with overworked healthcare workers; electricity cuts and beaches polluted with sewage. The utilities are not coping with consumption… what did the government expect us to do; keep quiet and ignore people's voices? […] We would have invested more in the high voltage network, in distribution centres to meet the demand, and more investment in renewable energy to reduce dependence on foreign sources of energy. What position does the Nationalist Party have on the illegally-built and later sanc- tioned, Manoel Island padel courts? We were clear on this. The entity responsible for any shortcoming is the Labour Party and the government, which on election eve promised that Manoel Island will become a national park but we are now witnessing a situation where this is being eroded gradually. I will not attack Gzira United because at the end of the day they are a football team and it should have been the government to help them with a solution to have adequate sports facilities if it truly had the political will to help football clubs… In Manoel Island, what really angered peo- ple was the usual philosophy adopted by some businessmen—let's face it, it is Gżira United but the padel courts are a com- mercial enterprise belonging to the club president—of build first, sanction later. This attitude frustrates people. I attack the system and the present government, which says one thing to entice you to vote for it and after the election does something different… on Manoel Island we have always been consistent… Will you remain consistent? Gzira' former mayor Conrad Borg Manche, today a PN MP, said on Facebook that Gżira United today have no land title because the one they had was superseded when the land passed on to MIDI plc and now a new lease agree- ment has to be done. But then you had for- mer Nationalist Mayor Ian Micallef, who is the club's secretary, who hit out at Borg Manche. There are these differing voices that make you wonder whether the PN is totally on board with what environmental groups and residents are saying. If I am not totally on board on Manoel Island, we would not have issued a statement on the matter. We are consistent. It is government that is not consistent because it promised one thing before the election and acted otherwise afterwards… I am informed that Gzira United's top brass was frustrated with the PN because they need to have their own facilities. We never attacked Gzira United. We always supported football clubs and sports organisation because we believe in them. Our statement was on Manoel Island and the government's hypocrisy. Do you agree with the padel courts on Manoel Island? Today they are sanctioned but doubts linger as to whether the club has a title over the land. Now that they are sanctioned; it's useless. Sanctioning is part of law… But it does not mean the land belongs to them. That is something legal, not political. If it transpires they have no title on the land; that is another matter. Do you agree that Gzira Utd should be giv- en back that land? Before I have the legal documents in hand showing to whom the land belongs, I cannot comment. If I have the papers showing me otherwise, I will be able to comment. As we stand today, sanctioning is part of the procedure. Now that it is sanctioned, there is no turning back. Sanctioning does not determine land own- ership. If papers emerge showing otherwise, we will act differently. Conrad Borg Manche was clear enough. The club has no land title. I am like St Thomas, unless I see the documents, I will not comment. Have you met Conrad Borg Manche? I just met him yesterday. He's doing a good job… You spoke of introducing targets for your MPs, including how many people they meet and how many feasts they visit. Is it possible that we've reduced politics to the number of feasts a member of parliament has visited? Isn't politics so much deeper than going to a feast and taking a selfie just to show you've been there, even if for just five minutes? As a politician you have several targets that include this [attending feasts] but not just… we need to work in a structured and professional manner if we want to be in government… You can set targets of how many policy papers MPs put forward. I did mention this. One of the targets is being close to people but there are other indicators: Contact with people, parliamentary work, including PQs and bills, White Papers… So, you will be pulling Stephen Spiteri's ear because statistics show he was the one who tabled the least number of PQs. Stephen Spiteri received 8,000 votes in the last election; there isn't much to pull his ear for. At the end of the day, he obtained that support in Labour-leaning districts. As for the parliamentary performance we have to see the circumstances that led him not to be present in parliament and ensure a greater presence… the KPIs are several, including meetings with social partners and every month we will be given a report. I will make sure the system will work. We will not set KPIs and ignore them like the government did with Miriam Dalli, who failed to perform year after year despite the KPIs that were set… You are creating a new deputy leader role. When will this happen and do you have any preference? 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