ADPD makes national debt and intergenerational fairness focus of election campaign

ADPD The Green Party has launched its election campaign under the slogan lkoll, meaning all of us together, placing national debt, sustainability, and intergenerational fairness at the heart of its programme.

Deputy Chairperson Carmel Cacopardo told a press conference that the word was chosen as a political statement in itself. "We are all in this together, clearly distinct from being on your own. Being together signifies solidarity. It also signifies seeking the common good," he said.

The party's choice of slogan comes against a backdrop of a national debt that has grown from €4.9 billion in 2012 to just under €10 billion in 2023, and is now on course to surpass €12 billion.

ADPD has attributed this rise to years of competing electoral promises from both the Labour Party and the Nationalist Party, which it said have driven a race to the bottom through handouts, tax reductions, and subsidies.

Cacopardo said the burden of this spending was being pushed onto future generations. "We cannot keep sending the burden into the future expecting that it is shouldered by future generations," he said, describing sustainability as "being a good ancestor,” caring not just about the present but about those who come after.

Party Chairperson Sandra Gauci said that despite political rhetoric, governments in Malta have consistently failed to plan beyond the next general election. "Their interest, generally, does not span more than between two general elections. We need to think and plan far more into the future," she said.

Both major parties, ADPD argued, have spent years outbidding each other on tax cuts and financial giveaways, resulting in Malta living beyond its means. The party said this approach shifts the tax burden away from present generations and onto those who will inherit the consequences.

Beyond fiscal policy, ADPD also called for a broader understanding of democratic participation, one that goes beyond voting every four or five years.

Cacopardo said the party had long pushed for civil society spaces where collective voices could be heard, arguing that wealth should be shared more fairly, planning decisions should serve the community rather than profit, and young people should have the same right to affordable housing as anyone else.

The party said it would continue to set out its proposals for a government built around the common good in the days ahead.