The Malta and Gozo Restaurants Association defended its recent survey, which found that a majority of members were against EU membership, saying it had studied the effect of membership through its participation in the Malta-EU Steering Action Committe.

After the MGRA published the results of its survey, the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association strongly condemned the MGRA as a non-credible set up, saying it had no official membership base, and that it had not carried out any studies on the effects of EU accession.

The MHRA said the results of the "so-called survey" were extremely dubious as the methodology used was not credible, having been carried out through a series of phone calls made by the president of the MGRA, Alfred Spiteri Debarro, to the members of the association.

The MGRA yesterday issued a statement insisting that its survey was credible, although it gave no answers to the points raised by the MHRA on its membership base or the way the survey was conducted.

It did say, however, that it had not been sponsored to carry out the survey, in contrast with the MHRA, whose survey, it said, was sponsored by someone who had an interest in the survey.