Updated: Gonzi sees AD proposals being closer to Labour

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said today that there was no issue of a possible PN coalition with Alternattiva Demokratika because what he was seeing from AD were proposals which were more akin of the MLP.

Dr Gonzi was asked about his views on a coalition after Nationalist MP Clyde Puli ruled out the possibility when speaking on television on Monday.

"We have a general election coming up and there are no issues of alliances," Dr Gonzi said.

"From what I am hearing from the AD, it would appear that there is an alliance between the AD and the MLP. Our position is clear – we are going in for this election, we are offering our political programme, which is built on concrete projects addressed towards building on the progress that the country has registered after EU accession and euro adoption and we believe that our country can make a big leap of quality. To date, I have heard nothing but criticism against the government from AD and cannot see how I can have an alliance with someone who is talking in exactly the same way as the MLP" Dr Gonzi said.

AD leader Harry Vassallo in a statement this afternoon said he was curious to know whether the Puli outburst would be endorsed by his party leader.

“I would indeed be very surprised if Dr Gonzi shares Clyde Puli’s fundamental aversion to everything Green since he spent several sessions discussing a possible coalition with the Greens in 2003,” Dr Vassallo said.

“Clyde Puli certainly does not express the sentiment of his party’s supporters across the country who would have no objection to a Blue-Green coalition and would certainly prefer it to a Red-Green coalition and very much more to a Red single party government,” Dr Vassallo said.