MLP's fundraising campaign

Labour Party leader Alfred Sant said the MLP was being very careful not to allow any measures that would undermine the standard of living of persons living on low or medium earnings.

The MLP, he said, was basing its campaign on two tracks, namely the economic and social situation in the country and the forthcoming European Parliament elections in June.

Dr Sant was addressing a press conference at party headquarters in Hamrun to launch a fund-raising campaign in support of the MLP with a target of Lm40,000.

On the European Parliament election campaign, Dr Sant said that the MLP would be doing its utmost to work on a national basis with the aim of ensuring that its message would reflect the realities of the Maltese and Gozitans, and the European realities and challenges.

The MLP's campaign would be built around the social and economic situation in Malta and the EU, he said.

To conduct such work, he added, the MLP needed financial resources and for this reason it has launched a fundraising initiative designed to collect "small sums from many people".

The campaign, Ghall-gid tal-Maltin u l-Ghawdxin, will be co-ordinated by deputy leader Michael Falzon and secretary-general Jason Micallef. People can make a donation at MLP headquarters on December 13, Republic Day, between 10 a.m. and 10 p.m.

Entertainment will be provided throughout the day and there will be a link-up with Super One radio and television.

The public is also being asked to donate Lm3, Lm5 or Lm10 through the phone or through SMS.

While addressing supporters at Fgura on Friday, Dr Sant said that if the Nationalist government had promised a "new spring", but was now unable to implement its promise, the MLP would be a leading protagonist in protests that would be needed to defend workers.

Maltese society was faced with serious difficulties and instead of a new spring, the people were now hearing words about how health and social services, the public service, pensions and the shipyards were no longer sustainable, he said.

Dr Sant said that Dr Fenech Adami was to blame for these problems.

He said that the government was to blame for a substantial part of the drydocks problem because it had done nothing to tackle problems there for three whole years after it was elected in 1998.

He said that the challenge facing the MLP was not to accept or appear to be accepting that workers on low and medium income would carry the burden resulting from government faults.