EU referendum campaign hots up

The Nationalist Party yesterday produced a new card in its pro-EU membership campaign: two men with links to the General Workers' Union who both spoke in favour of accession at a PN mass meeting in Sliema.

At a Labour Party mass meeting in Birkirkara, leader Alfred Sant called the referendum "bogus" and said the MLP did not believe in it.

In Sliema, former GWU section secretary Michael Seychell called on the union's general secretary Tony Zarb to reverse its anti-EU stand or step down. He urged fellow Labour supporters to realise that joining the Union would be good for the country.

And economist Gordon Cordina, who drew up reports on the impact of EU membership for the GWU, told the meeting the alternative to membership would lead to a lower standard of living.

In Birkirkara, Dr Sant said the choice was not between yes or no to membership but between membership and partnership, adding that the government should call an immediate election instead of the referendum.