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Adrian Delia

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The Honourable
Adrian Delia
MP
Leader of the Opposition
In office
6 October 2017 – 7 October 2020
PresidentMarie Louise Coleiro Preca
George Vella
Prime MinisterJoseph Muscat
Robert Abela
Preceded bySimon Busuttil
Succeeded byBernard Grech
Leader of the Nationalist Party
In office
17 September 2017 – 3 October 2020
Preceded bySimon Busuttil
Succeeded byBernard Grech
Member of Parliament
Incumbent
Assumed office
4 October 2017
Personal details
Born (1969-08-08) 8 August 1969 (age 55)
Sliema, State of Malta
Political partyNationalist Party
SpouseNickie Vella De Fremaux (Divorced)
Domestic partnerCynthia Galea
Children6
Alma materUniversity of Malta

Adrian Delia, MP (born 8 August 1969, in Sliema, Malta) is a Maltese politician, and lawyer by profession.[1] He is the former leader of the Nationalist Party from September 2017 till October 2020.

Early life

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Adrian Delia grew up in Birkirkara. He received his formation from the Jesuit St Aloysius' College. He graduated as a lawyer from the University of Malta in 1993.[2]

Professional life

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Delia started out in the Legal Office of Mid-Med Bank,[2] a bank later acquired by HSBC and branded as HSBC Malta. Delia founded his legal firm Aequitas Legal. He acted as Director and Company Secretary of Erste Bank Malta.[3]

Involvement in football

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Delia was elected as vice-president of Birkirkara F.C. in June 2011, while also representing the club in the council of the Malta Football Association.[4] He then was president of Birkirkara from 29 May 2015 till 29 June 2017 following his announcement that he would be taking an active role in politics.

Under the presidency of Delia the club achieved the first qualification in the third qualifying round in the UEFA Europa League in Season 2016–17.[5][6] Delia famously lured in former Italian international Fabrizio Miccoli.[7][8][9][10] The team won a match against West Ham United F.C., but were eliminated on penalties.[11] After the match West Ham showed interest in Birkirkara's Mauricio Mazzetti, but Delia commented that no formal offers had been made.[12]

Involvement in politics

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Adrian Delia worked for Radio 101 during his student years.[2]

He was approached by Mario de Marco on behalf of the Nationalist Party (Malta) to contest the 2013 Maltese general election and 2017 Maltese general election, which he both declined for career reasons.[13]

In 2017, after the Simon Busuttil's announced departure as Leader of the Nationalist Party further to the loss in the 2017 elections, Delia was the first to contest the leadership of the party.[3][14] He resigned from Birkirkara F.C. on 28 June 2017.[15][16] His nomination was made official on 17 July 2017.[17] Delia faced Chris Said, Frank Portelli and Alex Perici Calascione. In August 2018, it was reported that Adrian Delia was possibly the most popular throughout the race, as his lack of political experience was seen as an advantage.[18] On 17 September 2017 he was confirmed as Leader of the Nationalist Party.[19][20]

Leader of the Nationalist Party

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During the beginning of his tenure, Delia started reworking the image of the Nationalist Party. In fact the team installed was no longer made up by a majority of lawyers, which was typical of the party, but instead included a sociologist, an economist, a banker and an engineer. He also reintroduced the party to the man in the street, by visiting villages and their local clubs.[21]

He took a socially conservative stance in politics in general, flagging Malta as lacking traditional moral values and national soul, and has come out against the relaxation of drug laws and liberalisation of prostitution. Delia also raised security concerns from lack of community policing where necessary. He also came out against vacation leave for homosexual women seeking IVF treatment abroad, a parliamentary motion which proved unpopular and was lost.[21]

On 16 October 2017, further to the death of Daphne Caruana Galizia, he expressed concerns over rule of law, calling the incident "the collapse of democracy and freedom of expression."[22] He called for Joseph Muscat, then Prime Minister of Malta, to assume responsibility of what happened by resigning. Delia however declined to join protests, saying it would not be appropriate for him to be present, given their past feud.[21]

On 3 February 2018, as Opposition Leader, Delia reshuffled spokespersons within the Parliamentary Group and took the shadowing of the Justice Ministry in hand.[23]

On 20 May 2018, Delia promised that a PN government, if elected, would repay the money overcharged from energy bills.[24]

Further to the conclusions of the magisterial inquiry with regards to ownership of Egrant, Delia requested that the report would be published in full, and wrote to the Advocate General to provide him with a full copy.[25] Furthermore, Delia removed Simon Busuttil from Shadow Minister for Good Governance and asked him to resign on 22 July 2018.[26] Delia assumed the Good Governance portfolio himself.[27] His request was later backed by the Administrative Council of the Party.[28]

Controversy

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In 2017, Daphne Caruana Galizia accused Delia of links to a London-based prostitution racket.[29] Delia denied the allegation.[29][30] In a later interview, in May 2018, he promised to resign if any such activity is ever found.[31]

During the same period, in September 2017, Delia was also linked to freemasonry, a link he denied.[32]

In September 2018, several of Malta's human rights NGOs called out Delia for his comments about foreigners causing a threat to Maltese identity and values, calling them "abhorrent". The NGOs were also "shocked and disgusted", saying that by "using inflammatory language and calling for affirmation of the Maltese identity" he had "accused non-Maltese nationals of instilling feelings of fear and insecurity".[33]

In late December 2018, Delia has been accused of domestic violence, calling for him to step down from the leadership of the PN.[34] A women's rights campaigner, Francesca Fenech Conti, has also urged Delia to resign after the domestic violence allegations.[35] Democratic Party leader Godfrey Farrugia and former PN general secretary Rosette Thake also urged Delia to resign.[36]

Income Tax

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January 2018, Dr Delia had reached an agreement with the Inland Revenue Department to start settling dues dating back more than a decade. The first bill, which covered the period between 2007 and 2013, totaled €81,751. It consisted of €48,374 in unpaid tax, a €4,604 penalty and €28,773 in interest. For the period 2014 to 2017 the pending bill of income tax was €64,086.

Dr Delia's in-laws paid the PN leader around €55,000 on 23 March 2018 and €65,000 on 20 April 2018 to settle his tax bill.[37] [38]

Further reading

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References

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  1. ^ "L-Avukat Adrian Delia għal President tal-MFA?". Illum.com.mt. 20 March 2015. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  2. ^ a b c "Adrian Delia". pn.org.mt. Archived from the original on 7 October 2017. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  3. ^ a b Saviour Balzan; Paul Cocks (25 June 2017). "Updated - Adrian Delia to contest PN leadership election". Malta Today. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  4. ^ "Joe Zammit is Birkirkara's new President". www.sportinmalta.com. 11 June 2011. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  5. ^ "Birkirkara president Adrian Delia says he's the outsider the PN needs for leader". Malta Today. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  6. ^ "Updated - Birkirkara lawyer Adrian Delia to bid for the PN leadership". Times of Malta. 24 June 2017. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  7. ^ Ames, Nick (15 July 2015). "Fabrizio Miccoli out to revive past glories with Malta minnows against West Ham". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  8. ^ Kevin Azzopardi (24 June 2015). "Birkirkara snap up Miccoli". Times of Malta. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  9. ^ "Birkirkara jippreżentaw lill-akkwisti l-ġodda". www.inewsmalta.com (in Maltese). Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  10. ^ "Miccoli jiffirma għal sena ma' Birkirkara" [Miccoli signing up for a year with Birkirkara] (in Maltese). TVM. 24 June 2015. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  11. ^ "Birkirkara 1-0 West Ham (3-5 on pens)". BBC News. 23 July 2015. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  12. ^ Kevin Azzopardi (24 July 2015). "West Ham speak highly of towering Mazzetti". Times of Malta. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  13. ^ Paul Cocks. "Adrian Delia turned down 2013, 2017 election candidature". Malta Today. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  14. ^ "DELIA JRID IKUN KAP". Kullhadd.com. 25 June 2017. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  15. ^ "Adrian Delia jirriżenja minn President ta' Birkirkara FC - NETnews". Netnews.com.mt. 28 June 2017. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  16. ^ "Birkirkara FC jikkonfermaw li Adrian Delia rriżenja minn President". TVM. 29 June 2017. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  17. ^ "Chris Said and Adrian Delia submit PN leadership nominations". Times of Malta. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  18. ^ Tim Diacono (29 August 2017). "'Delia Fever' Grips Nationalist Party's Disenchanted Supporters". Lovinmalta.com. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  19. ^ "Adrian Delia wins PN leadership election with 52.7% of the vote". The Malta Independent. 16 September 2017. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  20. ^ "Adrian Delia is the new PN Leader". Maltaunrepententant.com. 17 September 2017. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  21. ^ a b c Tim Diacono (11 December 2017). "Adrian Delia Has Been PN Leader For 100 Days And Here's 11 Things He's Done So Far". Lovinmalta.com. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  22. ^ Harry Cooper (16 October 2017). "Leading Maltese political journalist killed by car bomb". Politico.eu. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  23. ^ Keith Micallef (2 February 2018). "Busuttil is new PN spokesman on good governance as Delia reshuffles team". Times of Malta. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  24. ^ Jacob Borg (20 May 2018). "Delia vows PN government would give back 'stolen' money from energy over-billing". Times of Malta. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  25. ^ Robert Cremona (23 July 2018). "Adrian Delia jikteb lill-Avukat Ġenerali biex jagħtih kopja sħiħa tal-atti tal-inkjesta li temm il-Maġistrat Aaron Bugeja" (in Maltese). Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  26. ^ Claire Caruana; Bertrand Borg (22 July 2018). "Watch: PN calls emergency meeting, hours after Busuttil refuses to suspend himself". Times of Malta. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  27. ^ Darren Carabott (22 July 2018). "FILMAT: "Naċċettaw ir-riżultat tal-inkjesta, filwaqt li nitolbu li tiġi ppubblikata kollha"" (in Maltese). Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  28. ^ Claire Caruana; Bertrand Borg (22 July 2018). "Watch: PN piles pressure on Simon Busuttil to suspend himself from party". Times of Malta. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  29. ^ a b "The death of a crusading journalist rocks Malta". The Economist. 21 October 2017.
  30. ^ Christoph Schwaiger (12 September 2017). ""Mhu se ninvestiga xejn għax m'hemmx x'tinvestiga" : Adrian Delia". Newsbook.com.mt (in Maltese). Retrieved 11 July 2019.[permanent dead link‍]
  31. ^ "I never made money from illicit activities - Adrian Delia". Times of Malta. 2 May 2018. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  32. ^ Tim Diacono (4 September 2017). "Updated: PN's Adrian Delia: 'I Am Not A Freemason'". Lovinmalta.com. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  33. ^ David Hudson (10 September 2018). "Updated | PN defends Delia after NGOs hit out at 'shocking' immigration speech". Malta Today. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  34. ^ Matthew Xuereb (30 December 2018). "Opposition divided over abuse claims on Delia". Times of Malta. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  35. ^ Tim Diacono (30 December 2018). "Women's Rights Activist Calls For Adrian Delia to Resign After Domestic Violence Accusations". Lovinmalta.com. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  36. ^ "Delia 'must step down' or be fired after domestic violence claims". Times of Malta. 29 December 2018. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  37. ^ "Income tax saga comes back to haunt Adrian Delia". Times of Malta. 9 January 2019. Retrieved 18 September 2020.
  38. ^ "Adrian Delia Received €100,000 Bailout From In-Laws To Settle His Taxes, Family Court Hears". Lovin Malta. 19 July 2020. Retrieved 18 September 2020.
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