KMB proposal incompatible with MLP's EU strategy - Sant

The motion being proposed by former MLP leader Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici for a future Labour government to negotiate a different accession agreement with the European Union was incompatible with the Labour Party's proposed EU strategy, Opposition Leader Alfred Sant said yesterday.

He was replying to questions on Dr Mifsud Bonnici's motion for next November's MLP general conference at the end of a press conference in which the first draft of a strategy document entitled "Our role in the European Union - In the best interests of Malta and Gozo" was launched.

Dr Sant said that he was sure that the party's general conference would vote in the best interests of the country.

He said the party had been preparing the document for the past months after the people opted for EU membership in the last general election.

He explained that the document made a series of proposals aimed at strengthening Parliament's role so that it could be involved in all stages of the formulation of legislation in the EU.

The document proposed that the Malta-EU Steering and Action Committee (MEUSAC) and the Malta-EU Information Centre (MIC) should not remain ministerial entities but become structures answerable directly to Parliament. This would give these institutions the required legitimacy, Dr Sant said. There should also be a discussion on new terms of reference for these institutions.

Another proposal was for the setting up of a parliamentary standing committee to scrutinise EU regulations and directives as well as decisions of the European Court of Justice.

The private sector, unions and the civil society should be involved in this committee, the document states.

Dr Sant said he still believed that the option of partnership with the EU that the MLP had proposed before the election was better than membership but, now that the people had decided, the party had to see how to work within the EU to get the best results for the country and the people.

Given the people's decision, it would not be in the people's interest for the party to continue working on something which would create uncertainty, but it should work on a policy which would maximise the people's chances of making progress.

The proposed strategy has been drafted by a working group set up last month by the MLP national executive and the parliamentary group.

The group was chaired by Evarist Bartolo, the party's spokesman on European affairs, and included Labour MPs George Vella, Leo Brincat and John Attard Montalto, party general secretary Jimmy Magro, Aaron Farrugia and Myriam Spiteri Debono. Joseph Muscat and Alfred Grixti were rapporteurs.

Dr Sant said that when working on the document, the party was faced with three strategic choices.

The first was to accept whatever the Nationalist Party had agreed on in the accession talks. But this was not in the national interest, as Brussels would not solve Malta's problems.

The second option was not to respect the people's decision and work for Malta to leave the EU at the first opportunity. But this would create instability to the detriment of investment and workers would suffer as a result.

The third option, which the MLP was going for, was to counter the disadvantages of membership while seeking to get the most of the ad-vantages membership would bring about and ensuring that such benefits were enjoyed by all.

The party, he said, would keep in contact with the European socialists, from whom it had already acquired a declaration that Malta's neutrality should continue to be respected by the EU.

The strategy document is divided into seven sections and discusses, among other things, the party's relations with the EU, the role of parliament and the safeguarding of constitutional principles such as neutrality.

It also discusses the party's participation within the Party of European Socialists and how EU policymaking should safeguard social welfare and jobs.

The working group submitted its report last week and the party's national executive and parliamentary group then discussed it.

The draft will now be distributed to party delegates for discussion in district meetings in the coming weeks.

An updated draft will be presented to the national executive and the parliamentary group for a final document to be prepared for debate at the party's general conference.

The party may also hold meetings with trade unions and the constituted bodies to get an overall view. Those wishing to react to the strategy and comment may do so on the party's Website, www.mlp.org.mt.