PN to hold Independence Day mass meeting after four years, but not at the Floriana granaries

The Nationalist Party is set to once again host its traditional Independence Day mass gathering, addressed by the PN leader in September, after four years.

Speaking on NET FM, Opposition leader Bernard Grech confirmed that the party will organise a three-day event series, culminating in a traditional mass meeting addressed by himself, at Valletta.

Bernard Grech told Julian Borg about the chosen theme for the Independence Day celebrations, which is "Ħajja aħjar f’pajjiżna" (A Better Life in Our Country).

The chosen theme for the Independence Day celebrations, “Ħajja aħjar f’pajjiżna” (A better life in our country)

In the live radio broadcast, Grech said the people deserve an improved quality of life within their own nation, a result achievable through well-planned and transparent politics that provide a clear direction.

He elaborated that no individual should feel disheartened due to poor decisions made by the government.

"I find it difficult to witness more Maltese and Gozitans compelled to leave the country... they express their frustration, indicating that they can no longer tolerate the situation," Grech expressed.

He recalled instances of individuals, even entire families, voicing their intention to relocate on Facebook groups. He characterised this trend as a "systemic issue" leading to a "depletion of these individuals' talents, intelligence, and creativity."

"There exists a necessity for a Nationalist Party that presents the prospect of a better life. The decision to depart, explore, and encounter the world outside is yours to make. Yet, with the improved life I am proposing, my hope is that you will choose to return," Grech stated.

Grech detailed plans for creating this "better life for our nation" by partnering with citizens, investors, and stakeholders. The objective is to establish better wages, improved job prospects, and enhanced opportunities for individuals to foster their creativity and skills.

"This is the distinction between us and Robert Abela, who appears to be bewildered," Grech concluded.

Last year the Nationalist Party did not hold a mass meeting marking Independence Day. In fact, the activities leading up to 20/21 September – when the party celebrates Malta’s 1964 Independence from the United Kingdom – were quite subdued.

The last full mass meeting on the granaries was held in 2018, when PN leader Adrian Delia addressed a crowd visibly reduced from the numbers that the party was used to attracting in the past. 

The year after that, only activities outside the PN headquarters were organised. Then in 2020, the country followed lockdown measures to combat COVID-19, although Delia and Bernard Grech held their own mass meetings as they campaigned in the run-up to the leadership election. 

In 2021, Grech, as the new leader, organised a meeting on the Granaries but this was limited to a small area with attendees having to stay seated and socially distanced. 

Bernard Grech interviewed by Julian Borg on NET FM

Opposition Leader criticises Abela's ‘lack of trust in own institutions’

Robert Abela’s words for developers submitting applications that do not respect planning regulations show that the prime minister does not trust his own institutions, Bernard Grech said on Sunday.

Grech said the government lacks confidence in its own institutions to make sensible decisions about development.

The opposition and PN leader was reacting to Abela’s comments about the planning application to transform a residential palazzo in Birkirkara’s urban conservation area into a 38-room hotel, Abela said that this goes against the government’s message.

While refusing to go into the specifics of the case, Abela said that the application was a non-starter and that the Planning Authority had to take a clear decision as per the policies and guidelines it had.

He added that applications in the village core had to convince the community that they were an added value. “There are still those ‘cowboys’ who believe they can force their position,” Abela said.

Criticising this, Grech said that while “cowboys of any sort are not acceptable,” the government created somewhat of an “impunity culture,” where every permit application is expected to be accepted.

“It is obvious then, that people are going to put up their own applications with the same expectations,” Grech added.

According to Grech, the prime minister has no solutions to the country’s problems and only sought to blame others.

“Rather than blaming developers,” Grech said, “it was the institutions’ fault which failed to keep them in check.”

Mentioning Ħal Balzan as an example, Grech recalled how the PN was criticised in the past for introducing policies to protect urban village cores.

“But it was thanks to those decisions that the public was able to enjoy those areas relatively untouched,” he added.

Grech criticised the government’s policy of growing the economy by expanding the population, saying that it was unsustainable to continue to grow the economy at the cost of the people’s standard of living. 

On this matter, Grech reiterated previous claims by the party that the government was growing the country’s national debt by €2 million every day and had nothing to show for it.

“This while people yield to the pressure of the increasing expenses brought about by the cost of living.”

Rather than working to better their professional development, Grech said, the people are stuck in competition with foreign workers who are willing to work for less pay.

Grech said that a PN government will work and refine its electoral proposals to grow the economy through better solutions, without harming the environment and introducing new economic sectors.