Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1546553
The following has been edited for brevity and clarity. The full interview can be found on maltatoday.com.mt as well as our Facebook and Spotify pages. PHOTOS: JAMES BIANCHI / MALTA TODAY 7 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 13 SEPTEMBER 2026 INTERVIEW What are your thoughts on this year's general election results? I think both parties can pick out something positive from these results… What worries me is the number of people who didn't turn out to vote at all. If you ask me what my reflection on the election is, I'd say, look at those who didn't turn out to vote. Why didn't they vote? There are various reasons. It could be that they didn't get what they wanted, and that worries me more, because it means they still believe that in order to vote, you need to be given something in return. And that's the clientelism that's always been a problem in this country. Then you have people who simply aren't interested, or else both parties in particular, and also the third or fourth party in the country, don't meet their expectations… When you announced that your political career had ended after the election, you said you were leaving politics with your integ- rity intact. When internal discussions came up within the PN about a certain lack of integrity, how was this received internally? Integrity doesn't just mean talking about corruption. What I mean by integrity is that I hold opinions I feel are grounded in the values I believe in, and I never gave up those values in order to protect my seat, or power, or my office… I never had anyone tell me 'keep quiet' because they knew that if I kept quiet, it simply wouldn't be me… Can values in politics be a hindrance? I believe strongly in the politics of values. As I told you, I was a Franciscan, so social injustice, inclusion, and the environment in the broadest sense of the word are values I never compromise on. They're not always appreciated, because very often in politics, at the end of the day, votes count. So, if a particular value is going to cost you a lot of votes, keep quiet. Now, I'm not the type to keep quiet, I'll still say what I have to say, because I believe in it… Unfortunately, at least in my opinion, it has become too much about image and marketing, rather than substance and values. I think that when we do that, we're doing damage to our country. In order to be liked, we try to please everyone and agree with everything. But in reality, you can't agree with everything. Not everything is acceptable, and not everything holds up. Sometimes, politics has become about how much you're seen on social media, how many likes you get, how cool you look, how fashionable you seem, how well you present yourself. These aren't bad things in themselves, but politics is about substance, values, leadership, and making decisions. And to make decisions, sometimes you have to look ugly. You mention corruption. It seems the PN has taken a step back from criticis- ing corruption in Malta, and once that happened, the vote gap between the PL and PN shrunk. Do you think this was a calculated move? I don't think the gap narrowed just because we stopped talking about corruption. I think it narrowed for other reasons. But the fact remains that corruption, while it was never a popular subject, should not be a subject we shouldn't talk about. While we've done well to talk about subjects that concern people, corruption is an important issue for us to keep raising because it's the foundation everything else rests on. The PN's identity is shaped by Christian Democrat values. It is said that, over time, it drifted a little from those, as every party has moved more towards the centre. When you see Malta becoming more secu- lar, is it inevitable that the PN will completely drift away from these values? First of all, I can't speak on behalf of the party as I'm no longer within the structure of the PN. I speak for myself… Unfortunately, as you say, the parties are drifting away from these values. I'd say the Labour Party has drifted away from its leftist values. I'm not saying it hasn't achieved anything positive, but these days it's become the party that massages the egos of the fat cats. And I think both parties do harm to the country when they fail to understand that Malta doesn't belong to that Cikku, or that Peppi, or to six people in the business world. Malta belongs to all of us. I understand what you're saying about the PL but do you think the PN is any different with regard to its attitude toward busi- ness interests? …I see it in both parties. In both parties, unfortunately, it stems from the fact that we have no state party financing. I think that's the root cause of the problem. Both parties, with all their good intentions, and with people who are genuinely good on both sides, remain conditioned by the desires, sometimes by the greed, of certain individuals. There's no need to name them, everyone knows who they are… Until we take this step, we'll remain parties conditioned by certain businessmen, who first milked the Nationalist cow dry then turned to feed off the Labour Party. Now that they're drying that one up too, eh, they're starting to look around for where they'll go next to keep feeding off our country… People have had enough because they're being pushed too far, and it bothers them that there are some six, eight families who seem to think Malta belongs to them.