Bernard Grech plans reshuffle to replace old guard with new faces

Nationalist Party leader Bernard Grech is planning a reshuffle inside his parliamentary group that will put forth new faces, and even dislodge old-timers that have long occupied frontbench roles.

A party source said Grech was increasingly conscious about giving the PN a fresh new look, and that so far a decision to announce a list of candidates for the next election was put on hold because of a lack of new names for the PN list.

“He is emboldened by positive polls that could give the PN a new lease of life and bring it back in line to that stage when the PN had just emerged from the 2013 election, to start building it back up,” a Grech aide told MaltaToday.  

But Grech appears to be hampered by Prime Minister Robert Abela’s own foot-dragging when it comes to his next Cabinet reshuffle, which is expected to see Miriam Dalli in a new ministerial role and Clyde Caruana as finance minister. Grech has told aides he might jump the gun by appointing a new shadow cabinet without waiting for Robert Abela’s line-up.  

“He has also been urged to show decisiveness and react quickly to cases of impropriety or divergence from party policy, as has been the case with Jason Azzopardi and Edwin Vassallo,” the source said.  

In spite of his inroads in voter retention, Grech faces a challenging prospect with an estimated 35,000-plus voter difference with Labour. Young volunteers who have approached the party since he was elected leader, and other outsiders including some well-known professionals who have offered to stand with the PN, could signal a turning point for the new leadership.  

Grech already made his mark this week by saying he wants his MPs to come clean about any gifts or freebies they may have received from the business community. Grech said he had asked his parliamentary group to inform him whether they had received any gifts or favours that could pose a potential conflict or debt.  

The action comes after firebrand MP Jason Azzopardi suspended himself from the PN parliamentary group after it was revealed he had accepted free hotel accommodation from the Tumas Group, owned by the family of alleged Daphne Caruana Galizia murder conspirator Yorgen Fenech.  

“It is clear that we are not a party of impunity, we are not a party of double standards, we are a party of action,” he said.  

Grech said it would be naive to assume that no politicians had accepted free meals after sitting down around a table for a meeting. But he wanted his MPs to be free of any influence that could be used against them.  

Grech also disassociated himself and the PN from comments made by conservative MP Edwin Vassallo, in which he equated a LGBTQI equality strategy issued by the European Commission as a form of “Marxism”.  

“Putting people at the centre of our politics means respecting and actively defending the dignity and fundamental human rights of every individual. With no exception. I completely disassociate both myself and PN from comments made to the contrary,” he said on Twitter.  

Vassallo launched one of his customary tirades earlier this week, after the European Commission issued an equality strategy that makes EU funds conditional on the respect of gay rights.  

Vassallo, only last week reconfirmed as a Nationalist candidate for the next elections, said plans by the Maltese commissioner for equality Helena Dalli to inflict penalties on EU countries that do not respect LGBTQI rights was “Marxism at its best”.