Labour planned U-turn on EU in 1997

The Labour government had set the wheels in motion to re-route Malta towards EU membership back in 1997, former deputy leader George Abela reveals in an interview with The Sunday Times today.

Former Prime Minister Alfred Sant had personally drawn up a paper to start discussions with the Nationalist opposition in a bid to lead to "convergence" about EU membership, the MLP leadership contender says.

Internal and informal discussions involving Dr Abela, Lino Spiteri, John Attard Montalto and Dr Sant were held to plot the way forward on the EU issue.

At the time, former Education Minister Evarist Bartolo had also written an article in a newspaper entitled 'Convergence' precisely on this issue, which seems to have gone unnoticed.

The revelation is likely to place Labour's true position on the EU issue in a new light, especially since the party subsequently steered a harsh anti-EU membership campaign until the issue was sealed following the 2003 referendum and general election.

"We held internal discussions as we believed it was high time to remove the EU freeze. I'll never forget that," Dr Abela says.

In an outspoken interview, the 59-year-old lawyer says that the biggest lesson he learnt during his party's short term in office is that there should be no hard and fast rules in politics - that is why the Labour government had decided to shift from its EU freeze, irrespective of whether it won the election on that ticket.

But the trouble over the water and electricity tariffs, the Dom Mintoff debacle and the controversial Cottonera project put the EU issue on the backburner. Dr Abela quit the party and the country went to the polls after just 22 months of a Labour government.

For Dr Abela, Labour's decision to continue objecting to EU membership remains inexplicable.

Dr Abela, who will be holding a public meeting in Cospicua this morning, says he is now free to make his voice heard, after Dr Sant resigned as Labour leader following three successive defeats at the polls. But he speaks about the obstacles that are being created in his bid to get Labour's top job, amid the misinformation being spun by some top officials.