Mintoff, Mifsud Bonnici to meet Prodi today

European Commission president Romano Prodi is expected to meet Dom Mintoff and Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici at his office in Brussels today.

Mr Mintoff and Dr Mifsud Bonnici, who joined forces to form the Front Maltin Inqumu, left Malta for Brussels yesterday on a Lufthansa flight via Frankfurt.

The aircraft's captain must have felt the burden of responsibility more than usual - he had three former prime ministers on board as Labour leader Alfred Sant was on the same flight on the way to the US.

But while Mr Mintoff and Dr Mifsud Bonnici travelled club class, Dr Sant was in economy.

On the same flight were Finance Minister John Dalli and the head of the core negotiating group, Richard Cachia Caruana, who were on their way to Germany for talks with the German government.

Former finance minister Leo Brincat and former tourism minister Karmenu Vella were also on the flight. The former was accompanying Dr Sant while the latter was on his way to St Petersburg.

As if that was not enough for a single flight, there was also GWU deputy general secretary Manwel Micallef, who was going to Poland, as well as Brigadier Rupert Montanaro.

In his typical manner, Mr Mintoff refused to say where he was going or why, patting reporters on the shoulder rather than replying to their questions.

However, Dr Mifsud Bonnici confirmed that they were meeting Mr Prodi this afternoon. Efforts to organise the meeting have been going on since August.

The meeting is expected to focus on Malta's negotiations and the principles of neutrality and non-alignment in which the FMI believes.

After meeting Mr Prodi, the two former prime ministers will be going for more meetings in London, but Dr Mifsud Bonnici refused to be drawn into revealing who they were going to meet. He denied that they were going to Ireland, which votes on the Nice treaty on Saturday.

Both Dr Mifsud Bonnici and Mr Mintoff were quoted in an article in the Irish Times yesterday. Brendan O'Malley said two former Maltese prime ministers warned that neutrality would not be guaranteed for Malta or Ireland under the terms of the Nice Treaty, despite assurances from EU leaders.

The trip was not without its hassles. Mr Mintoff's aides, who went to check in for him found that his passport had expired and rushed to the passport office to have it renewed.

When Mr Mintoff and Dr Mifsud Bonnici arrived at the ministerial lounge, they found the door closed, prompting Mr Mintoff to remark that it would have been better to have passed through the "normal channels".

When an MIA official went to open the doors of the VIP lounge some 15 minutes later, Mr Mintoff paused and loudly uttered: "If Zeza still has not finished having a bath, please tell us".

Dr Sant and Mr Brincat passed through the passenger terminal.

In one of his TV appearances, Mr Mintoff had challenged Dr Sant to a debate on Super One, but when contacted later Dr Sant said he did not have time to meet him.

Repeatedly asked whether he would try to find the time to speak to Mr Mintoff, since they were going to be on the same flight, Dr Sant just ignored the reporters.

The MLP said in a statement the Labour leader and Mr Brincat were going to New York to broaden the party's contacts within the banking, tourism and industrial investment sectors so that there would be new opportunities when Labour was returned to government.