Bernard Grech on Mario Galea PL appearance: ‘Our door is open to everyone’

The former Nationalist MP was invited to speak on mental health at a Labour Party conference on wellbeing

Bernard Grech will be keeping a window of communication open to Mario Galea, the former Nationalist MP who withdrew his candidature on the first day of the election campaign. 

Mario Galea was a guest speaker at a Labour Party conference on mental health, where he spoken candidly about his personal experiences with mental health issues. 

Grech said that he wasn’t surprised to see Galea at the conference. “He likes to talk about mental health. There was an opportunity to speak about it, and he took it,” he said. “It’s important to note what he said – ‘I was born a Nationalist, I will die a Nationalist’. I wish him well from here, our door remains open to everyone who wants to work for the common good.”

In a Facebook post on Tuesday evening, Mario Galea said he attended the press conference to raise awareness of mental illness and suicide. “Mental illness should not be politicised,” he said.

He also assured supporters he will remain a Nationalist. “I was born a Nationalist, I will die a Nationalist.”

Grech was speaking at a political activity in Rabat on Wednesday evening in a brief interview with Amanda Ciappara Mizzi. 

The Nationalist Party leader kicked off by mentioning a social media post uploaded by someone who decided to leave Malta for good. “There are people out there who have been discouraged, have given up in Malta and left, or want to leave, the country. That’s why we have a responsibility.”

Grech briefly touched on a Labour Party proposal that considers introducing mandatory union membership. He said that while the PL wants people to join a union by force, the Nationalist Party will strengthen the role of unions while raising awareness on their role, without imposing membership. “We’ll strengthen and support you, not force you,” he said. 

Grech emphasised on the issue of water supply security, saying that government has been too focused on urban development while ignoring the issue of water supply. “We need to take care of our water supply because it’s an important and vital resource.”

He added that the issue of water supply ties in with energy, especially when it comes to Malta’s reverse osmosis system. “Without electricity we won’t be able to produce water through reverse osmosis.”

With the Ukraine-Russia conflict in full swing on Europe’s border, Grech said that Malta will be affected by the crisis not just through rising wheat prices but also through energy and tourism. 

He then mentioned the PN’s proposals to create 10 new economic sectors, including the metaverse and due diligence. 

“The metaverse alone is an industry of €900 billion. Imagine what investment potential there is for our country if we tap into this sector,” he said.

Grech added that compliance and due diligence has become a burden for local companies. “We want to turn it into an opportunity,” he said, saying that the local due dilience sector could even expand their services to foreign companies. 

He added that he’s happy to see political surveys indicating that the vote gap is narrowing compared to the 2017 election. “This family is growing every day,” he said. 

However, he insisted that the best survey remains the general election.