Labour against joining Rapid Reaction Force

Labour leader Alfred Sant said yesterday his party was totally against Maltese soldiers joining the EU's Rapid Reaction Force.

The Labour Party will not accept Maltese soldiers being seconded to a force that formed part of such a military alliance and a Labour government would put a stop to this practice, Dr Sant said.

A Labour government would be guided by the Constitution if it were asked to take part in military alliances. Such participation in the past that was approved by the MLP had been sanctioned by the United Nations, he added.

Dr Sant was speaking at a news conference at the party headquarters in Hamrun after the MLP youth section presented him with a set of proposals for possible inclusion in the MLP's election campaign for the European parliament elections on June 12.

Answering questions on other topics, Dr Sant noted that the MLP was in favour of granting rights to homosexuals.

The set of proposals by the youth section, which are based mainly on the manifesto of the Young European Socialists, known in short as Ecosy, among other things calls for an end to discrimation against homosexuals "who should be granted the rights they deserve".

The list of proposals covers most aspects of the economic, social and political environments including economic growth, the exploitation of new forms of energy, reforms in agriculture, greater cooperation in the fields of research and development and a call for an end to poverty.

On his part, Dr Sant said the proposals represented another phase of the party's campaign for MEPs. Next week representatives of the MLP will be going to Brussels where the European Socialists will meet to discuss a set of guidelines for the European parliament elections although each Socialist party will be compiling its own electoral programme.

Soon after May 1, the MLP's executive members will be meeting to approve the party's programme, which will be based on a document on the EU that was approved at the party's general conference last November, Dr Sant added.