The centre-right Maltese party of European Parliament President Roberta Metsola is banking on a 30-year-old to win back power after 12 years in opposition, following her decision to stay in EU politics.
Alex Borg, an MP from the island of Gozo, told Euractiv that the Nationalist Party should be more assertive in its messaging – including on the social and environmental challenges facing the EU’s smallest country – if it wants to return to power in the next general elections, due by 2027.
“Homelessness is a new reality in Malta, we never had homelessness,” he said. “We can gain more if people actually know what our belief is.”
A lawyer and MP since 2022, Borg won the Nationalist Party’s leadership election by just 44 votes last month, and has set about shaking up the party’s communications on podcasts and social media. The ruling Labour Party is still ahead in recent polling, though the gap with Borg’s Nationalists has narrowed since earlier this year, largely due to gains from smaller parties.
In his first trip to Brussels as party leader this week, Borg met Environment Commissioner Jessika Roswall to discuss the problems of overpopulation and overdevelopment on the islands. He also addressed fellow members of the centre-right European People’s Party about the fight for the rule of law.
Though the perception of corruption in Malta remains high, the same ranking – by Transparency International – shows that perception has decreased a lot in recent years. But the latest report by the Council of Europe’s anti-corruption body GRECO suggests limited progress by the government in combating corruption.
The Labour Party, which has ruled Malta since 2013, has been plagued by corruption scandals, including the one that engulfed former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, after the murder of investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia eight years ago.
Now, under Prime Minister Robert Abela, Borg accused Labour of losing its “social values.”
“They cling to power because … they maximise the power of incumbency, they give out a lot of money, cheques,” he said.
Metsola should stay
After Bernard Grech’s sudden resignation from the Nationalist Party’s leadership in June, there was speculation that Metsola – who is popular in Malta and is the country’s most prominent political export – would enter national politics as party leader in the run-up to the 2027 elections.
But the two-time European Parliament president ultimately decided to remain in Brussels, saying she “cannot abandon” her responsibilities at EU level. Now there is informed talk of Metsola claiming an unprecedented third term as Parliament president, which would span 2027 to 2029.
“She’s committed to help the party as much as possible,” said Borg about Metsola, who campaigned for her to enter the European Parliament in 2019.
“She excels in European politics, she’s the best I’ve ever seen. I believe the party would lose if we lose her from there because imagine how many doors are opened when you have the president of the European Parliament over there,” he said.
Asked about whether she should stay for another term as European Parliament president, he said: “That would be super, obviously, because it has never happened. And for a Maltese … it would be amazing.”
Were she to leave the Parliament, “Malta would lose,” he said.
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