[WATCH] Delia vows to support government decisions on migration

Nationalist Party (PN) leader Adrian Delia has reiterated his support of the government in its handling of recent disputes with Italy on migration in the Mediterranean.

In an interview on the party’s radio station Delia insisted that as long as the government continues to observe international rules, the Opposition would be supporting decisions it took. 

“Other countries think that they can bully us just because we are a small country, and so now more than ever we must rise above partisan politics and stand united on a problem that it appears will only increase in the coming months,” Delia said. 

Asked about the recent decision by the European Court of Justice to ban bird trapping in Malta, Delia said that bird trappers had in the past been caught up in a war for votes between the two parties and were mis-informed on occasions about what the situation really was.

“What bird-trappers want now is to really know the truth. The bending of truth for votes must stop now,” he said.

“I invite bird-trappers to come to us so we can see what the next step is, if there is any way to restore their hobby, we will do so, if not we must tell them the whole truth.”

Commenting about news that bread prices would be going up, the PN leader said it was another item on the long-list of issues that have cropped up as a result of poor planning of the country's economic growth.

“We are not trying to find problems, we are looking for the solution,” he said. “The government has not commented on the issue, while we are working on the issue.”

It is the government’s obligation to see that economic growth is distributed evenly, Delia insisted, adding that five years of a Labour government had left the country still without a direction.

“We want the economy to keep on growing, but in a controlled manner,” he said.

Turning to Air Malta, Delia said it was essential to a big portion of the country's economy, and must therefore be handled in a delicate manner. 

“Despite agreeing that Air Malta needs to expand, I firmly believe that this should be done in a controlled and attentive manner,” he explained.

The Opposition leader called for more judges to be appointed given that the waiting time for pending court cases had increased rather than decreased.

“All the people want is swift and timely justice. People don’t want to wait eight years instead of four, for a court sentencing,” he said. “If the law permits five judges, then we must look to have five judges.”

Responding to a question regarding the recent approval of amendments to the Embryo Protection Act, Delia said that the definition of a family has forever been changed, and that the law that was created to protect the unborn child, was now putting it in danger.