Sant thanks MEPs... but not Attard Montalto

MEP John Attard Montalto was pointedly left out of a speech by Labour leader Alfred Sant who praised the other two Labour MEPs, Joseph Muscat and Louis Grech, when he gave the closing speech at the party's annual general conference yesterday.

Dr Sant was at the time saying that the party had to continue strengthening its work with regard to Europe although a lot of progress had already been achieved.

"We have to greatly improve our operations. But I think that, especially through the work of our friends Joseph Muscat and Louis Grech, we have made good progress.

"We must continue working in this sector so that when it is time to present our electoral manifesto to the Maltese and Gozitans, we will be able to show them that we are working harder and better than the Nationalists in this area," Dr Sant said.

Dr Attard Montalto on Thursday came under fire from the party's assistant general secretary Joe Falzon who, addressing the conference, said the MLP had three and not two representatives in the European Parliament and that the MLP expected all three to participate in the decisions being taken.

Dr Attard Montalto was absent during the European Parliament's recent vote on the sticky Port Services Directive because he was in Mexico on what Dr Sant later said was a "personal political assignment".

The MEP has also failed to attend the party's conference, which started on Thursday.

Dr Sant underscored four points from the environment and four from the tourism plans approved by the conference and said he would like them to form part of the party's electoral manifesto.

The first proposal he referred to, relating to the environment, is for a new Labour government to reform the Malta Environment and Planning Authority so that within six months the authority would have targets for the way it approves projects. According to the project's size, reasonable and limited time would be given for its approval.

The second proposal is to solve the hospital incinerator problem within six months of taking office.

The third is to partner local councils and environment NGOs to safeguard what remains of the natural valleys, including in Gozo and the south. This would be done during Labour's first year in office.

The fourth environmental proposal is to set up a sanctuary for domestic animals within the first six months of a Labour administration.

On tourism, the first proposal singled out by Dr Sant is to set up a task force together with the private sector to examine, within Labour's first three months in office, the taxes burdening tourism. Labour's promise would be that within six months of taking over, it would ease this burden and improve Malta's competitiveness.

The second proposal is to adopt a private/public task force to promote a policy that strikes a balance between the development of five-star and three-star hotels and facilities.

The third proposal is that a new Labour government would use the same task force approach to launch regional development projects, especially in Grand Harbour, Maghtab and Gozo.

The fourth tourism proposal is to ensure that partnership with the private sector was mutual: the government would work to enhance competitiveness and profitability but it would expect commitment from the private sector to protect workers and employees from exploitation. This would be a fundamental requirement of a new Labour government.

Dr Sant said that as soon as Labour was in office "we will hit the ground running".

The Labour leader said the party was also inviting the present government to adopt these proposals and if it opted to do so, it would have the full support of the Labour Party.

Labour, he said, was willing to cooperate with all the social forces, whoever they were, if they were ready to work seriously to create employment, boost investment and curb the cost of living.

His party would be compiling other documents, referred to as vision statements, including ones on the civil service, foreign policy and national heritage.

Labour would be a fair government acting on serious and clear merit criteria. But to be fair, it had to start by repairing the injustices which Labourites had suffered, he said to applause.

He said a lot had been done by the current and former Nationalist governments for certain people to benefit and it was as if nothing was awry. "No businessman, monsignor or Times" had protested about this, he added.

"So surely there should not be any complaints that a Labour government did the same with those who are being made to suffer, who are being cast aside and discriminated against. What they (the Nationalists) did, we will do too," Dr Sant said.