Labour to hold 'popular manifestation'

The Labour Party will hold a "popular manifestation" in Hamrun on February 12 to sustain the popular call made at the party's general conference last weekend in favour of a new beginning for the country, party leader Alfred Sant said yesterday.

Addressing a news conference, he said the party was extremely satisfied with the outcome of the conference because the process which led to it had included a wide-ranging debate within the party's structures and with the stakeholders in the tourism and environment sectors.

The conference approved documents on the party's plans for these two sectors.

The Labour Party leader said that a popular call for the creation of employment, based on a serious and workable plan that would increase investment and curb the cost of living, was made during the conference.

He said that during the conference he had put forward four concrete proposals that followed from the party's plans on the environment and tourism.

One of the proposals for tourism was that a new Labour government would set up a task force between the private and public sectors to study, in the first three months of taking office, the taxes burdening the sector and within six months implement proposals on reducing that burden.

One of the proposals for the environment was for the Malta Environment and Planning Authority to introduce, within six months, targets for the approval of projects. A reasonable but limited time would be given for projects to pass through the approval stage.

The Labour Party, Dr Sant said, would continue to update its proposals according to changing circumstances. In the weeks leading up to the next council elections, it would continue to air its plans for tourism and the environment, especially since whole chunks of them referred to local councils.

He said the party planned to call a conference again mid-year to discuss plans on education, health, on Gozo and the manufacturing industry. The party would also be publishing vision statements on the public service, foreign policy, the civil service and historical heritage.

Closing the general conference on Sunday, Dr Sant took the time to thank two of the party's MEPs, Joseph Muscat and Louis Grech for their work, pointedly leaving out the third, John Attard Montalto.

Asked why Dr Attard Montalto had been left out and whether this was because he was disappointed with Dr Attard Montalto's performance in Brussels, Dr Sant said he had no more comments to make on the issue at this moment.

"I have said all I had to say on the matter," he said.