Choice should be made on merit - PM

Voters should vote for all the Nationalist Party candidates standing for the European parliament elections because of their merits not because of the demerits of others, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said yesterday.

Speaking at Zebbug, Dr Gonzi said the Labour Party had the cheek to speak about having a winning team when the party had lost all elections and challenges it had over the past years. It was the Nationalist Party that believed steadfastly in EU membership and the MLP had no credibility on this front.

Were it for the MLP, there would be no EU membership for Malta nor would there be elections for the European parliament, he said.

Dr Gonzi said the MLP used scaremongering techniques before the EU referendum and the election and was now expecting people to trust it with representing them in an institution they did not believe in.

"They used to scare us with loss of jobs, with being invaded by foreigners. None of this has happened. On the contrary, the number of unemployed people is actually gradually decreasing," he said.

Dr Gonzi said a lot of fuss had been made about a jeans manufacturing company, VF, that had encountered difficulties and how jobs would be shed because of EU membership.

A number of jobs were lost when the company had lack of orders but the people who used to work there have been contacted to resume employment after orders have been won, he said.

Dr Borg said the PN candidates did not just say yes to EU membership, but had openly striven for Malta to join. This is in stark contrast with MLP candidates who not only opposed EU membership, but one of the candidates is still an active member of the Front Maltin Inqumu that continues to oppose EU membership even now.