Adrian Delia expected to tell MPs to speak up if they have concerns about his leadership

Adrian Delia is expected to tell MPs to speak up if they have any concerns about his leadership at a meeting of the Nationalist Party group this afternoon.

MaltaToday understands that in today’s meeting, Delia is expected to urge MPs to raise any concerns in a bid to clear the air.

It is likely that MPs will ask Delia about the serious accusations of domestic violence made against him by his wife.

The PN leader faced flak over the past month after his wife accused him of domestic violence in a reply to his court application asking for permission to see their children.

The couple are undergoing separation proceedings.

The accusation was made at a time when various videos were circulated on social media showing Delia in a domestic setting.

Delia has denied the accusation of domestic violence but refused to discuss the matter further after a court agreement with his wife not to discuss the separation publicly.

The PN parliamentary group will meet at 5.30pm and this will be the first such meeting for this year.

Delia faced mounting internal pressure to resign the leadership by several MPs, who, however, did not go public with their criticism. Delia has received the unanimous backing of the PN administrative committee and support from a vast majority of local committees.

READ ALSO: Adrian Delia says no PN MP has told him to his face that he must go

Delia has repeatedly cautioned his MPs that the PN needed everyone to pull the same rope in the run-up to the European Parliament and local council elections. He is expected to repeat that message again this afternoon.

Only this morning, an MP was critical of the decision to call the parliamentary group meeting at such short notice, implying this was done on purpose to exclude some MPs.

This was immediately shot down by PN deputy leader David Agius and veteran MP Mario Galea, who insisted it was common practice for parliamentary group meetings to be called at short notice and without a specific agenda.

Agius added that the parliamentary group was scheduled to meet in Parliament at a time when the House is in session and MPs could be expected to be in the building.