Delia now ‘more determined to continue leading party’

Adrian Delia is now “more determined than ever” to continue leading the Nationalist Party, a long-serving PN MP has told The Malta Independent.

Reports over the past few days have suggested that Delia’s aides are mulling a ‘dignified exit’ for the leader, whose wife Nickie Vella de Fremeaux recently filed for separation.

Malta Today reported on Sunday that his closest allies – MP Hermann Schiavone, PN media chief Pierre Portelli and PN secretary-general Clyde Puli – have been engaging in discussions on the the leader’s future and the prospect of his resignation.

A number of messages sent by MP Schiavone to Vella de Fremeaux were also published over the weekend. In one of those messages, the Birżebbuġa MP tells Delia’s wife that her husband is “not himself.”

Schiavone later explained that the messages had been taken out of context and that they had been sent back in March.

When asked about the Malta Today story on Monday afternoon, Delia said he would not be drawn into commenting on such issues, focussing instead on the subject of that day’s press conference, a meeting with the Malta Motorsport Federation.

The PN later told the Times of Malta that Delia was “here to stay.”

The Malta Independent has since spoken to a Nationalist MP who is not attached to any of the factions within the PN – one reportedly backing Delia’s leadership; the other opposing it.

The MP explained that, despite the situation, Delia seemed more determined than ever to serve at the party’s helm.

The MP, who asked to remain anonymous, explained, however, that people from Delia’s faction were urging the leader to stay on, while others considered to form part of the opposing faction have been pushing the idea that he should resign and leave.

The MP who spoke to this newspaper said the issue was a “purely personal one” and should have no bearing on Delia’s capability as a politician. “He is not the first party leader to have had marital problems and is certainly not the only serving MP to be separated. Yet no one is judging these MPs or asking them to resign. Just because an MP goes through a separation does not make them a bad politician.”

The MP said Delia’s personal issues started earlier this year but had not affected his capacity as party leader.

“In fact, it is only now that this news has come out that there has been talk of him resigning.”