Ex-PL MP Gino Cauchi says foreigners in Malta issue should not be 'politicised'

On Monday, TVM's Xtra discussed the MEP and local council elections’ results. Present in the studio alongside Gino Cauchi was the PL’s new Valletta mayor, Olaf McKay, Net News head of news Robert Cremona, and the PN’s Siġġiewi mayor, Julian Borg

Former PL MP Gino Cauchi has urged people to refrain from “politicising” the issue of foreigners in Malta.

Cauchi was speaking during TVM’s Xtra, where he noted that the issue was a concern for protest voters. “We cannot introduce politics into such a sensitive topic,” Cauchi said. Despite this, Xtra’s host, Saviour Balzan retorted saying that one should discuss “every subject under the sun,” to which Cauchi responded by agreeing with him. 

The panel discussed the MEP and local council elections’ results. Present in the studio alongside Cauchi was the PL’s new Valletta mayor, Olaf McKay, Net News head of news Robert Cremona, and the PN’s Siġġiewi mayor, Julian Borg.

As they dove into the last elections’ results, the PN’s surprising performance was not lost on Julian Borg, who admitted that while the party expected a reduction in vote gaps, it did not expect to see those numbers.

Borg said that the PN has achieved its targets in the previous election, but it still has a way to go. 

Cremona agreed with Borg, as he further commented on the two parties’ campaigns. He argued that certain tit for tats between the two parties turned voters off, which likely prompted them to vote for independent candidates. 

When asked to share his thoughts on the elections’ outcome, Cauchi said that the outcome showed “the electorate’s maturity,” as he noted that the voters’ message to the political class was that times are changing. 

Meanwhile, Valletta’s new PL mayor, Olaf McKay spent the majority of the programme insisting that both his party and its leader have what it takes to truly act on the electorate’s message.

Among other issues, McKay mentioned the environment, as well as the tables and chairs issue and the problem of loud music in certain localities, most notably his own. McKay was asked whether he was ready to go against decisions taken by the central government, to which he responded, “obviously.”

Turning back to the election result, Cauchi said that the PN’s gain in votes could be attributed to two different factors. He stated that this time around, the PN managed to convince its voters who chose not to vote in 2019 due to internal turmoil within the party. Secondly, the ex-PL MP claimed that the “Metsola factor” was a big contributor to the PN’s more positive result. 

Net TV’s Robert Cremona agreed with him, adding that Metsola, as well as Joseph Muscat were two characters which undoubtedly affected the election. Cremona however did not agree with Cauchi’s assessment that “the PN equals Roberta Metsola.”

Towards the end of the programme, Borg was asked to identify one problem which needs to be addressed with regards to local councils, to which he immediately replied that he wants to see more power given to local governments.