This is my last Sunday as a leadership candidate. Next week, I will either be a loyal supporter of the new leader or I will have accepted the responsibility entrusted to me.
Either way, I shall be dedicating all my time and energy to the PN so that it may return to government. If we win the next elections, and I am convinced that we can, we will start by concentrating on these seven areas of our lives.
Democracy and rule of law
This is one of the areas where Robert Abela’s government has been most destructive. We will restore the rights of individuals and civil society to hold government to task. We will create a human rights agency and give the recommendations of the ombudsman a legal validity that can be enforced by the courts. Most importantly, we will ensure timely hearings for those alleging political discrimination. If a decision is not given to him or her in 365 days, the applicant will be awarded a victory.
PN’s identity and redefinition
We will immediately call a convention that will also be the basis of our electoral manifesto. But, more than that, it will refocus our politics and provide a basis for our future mission. We want to emerge from this convention feeling more united and re-energised with a vision that has been modernised and revitalised.
Party finances
We will leverage every asset we have to offset out debts, yes, but we also want to embrace a different model. One in which we no longer depend on any number of big donors who will always return for their payback. The ties between politics and big business must be consigned to the past.
Environment
I was not joking or dreaming pointlessly when I pledged afforestation. We have built freeports and skyscrapers. Does anyone doubt that we can plant hundreds and thousands of trees? But the environment is not just about trees and shade. It is also about the urban fabric. We will declare a war on excessive noise. We will develop a new model of waste collection and will propose different visions for our towns. Each one will see the residents voting on the transport solutions we will propose as well as the other areas that will impact their quality of life.
The people of Malta deserve more than a cruel concrete jungle- Adrian Delia
Education
A reformed education model must place engagement at its core. The emphasis cannot be just on attendance; we must give our students the kind of curiosity and resilience that will be vital in an era of intelligent machines. Schools should become engines of capability, not compliance.
Economy
We must also revisit the way our economy distributes value. The current growth model relies too heavily on indiscriminate mass tourism, cheap labour, imported skills and loosely regulated sectors. The result is overpopulation and uncontrollable tourism that creates social and spatial pressures, reduces wages, fuels inequality and brings about fragmentation and tensions in the community.
Housing
We will embrace data-driven housing reform for a just and fair Malta. The 2021 census suggested that more than 27% of Malta’s dwellings sit empty. Other properties have been unclaimed for generations and, having no owner, also have no user. We need to use the available technology to create a comprehensive, transparent map of our housing stock.
If we implement these seven areas, and more will follow, Malta can be a country: where young people don’t just survive but where they stay, grow and build; where ageing with dignity means not just having a pension but a community; where planning is not reactive but visionary; where technology isn’t an ornament but the engine of justice; where homes are not just numbers or dollar-sign investments but foundations for building a family.
I am proposing a social contract that we must renew together; with clarity, with courage and with the conviction that the people of Malta deserve more than a cruel concrete jungle. We want a society that is fair, caring and kind; one that values happiness and understands the challenges of loneliness; one that is sick and tired of corruption and is ready to embrace rules and safeguards against it that work.
We want a Gozo that feels respected and cared for and a country that all its citizens can be proud of.
Adrian Delia is a candidate for the leadership of the Nationalist Party.