Alternattiva Demokratika said today that it condemned what it viewed as Joseph Muscat’s 'cheap populism' on immigration.
The party was referring to comments made by Joseph Muscat this morning.
Arnold Cassola, spokesman on EU and International Affairs, said: "it is appalling that a potential Prime Minister like Joseph Muscat can come up with cynical suggestions which go against the basic natural law and International Law. Just to garner some extra votes, Dr. Muscat had in 2009 suggested that Malta suspends its human rights obligations according to the 1951 Geneva convention and now is suggesting that, in face of the hundreds of men, women and children fleeing from the Gaddafi regime and drowning in the Mediterranean, the Maltese government should do what suited it best and take a firmer stand".
Prof. Arnold Cassola said that Dr. Muscat should do well to reflect on the role the Labour Party had in building up a despot and a dictator like Gaddafi in the past and should be ashamed of the fact that its former Leader and Prime Minister, Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici is still President of the Gaddafi Prize for (In)human rights.
"Malta should not be held hostage by the butcher Gaddafi to the South and the xenophobic Bossi and Maroni to the North. Instead, the Maltese and Italian governments should adopt a common stand vis a' vis the EU insensitivity on the issue, and put pressure until the egoistic EU national governments agree to make use of the emergency solidarity clause in the Lisbon Treaty. Until then, Malta and Italy are duty bound to save all lives possible in the Mediterranean, irrespective of Joseph Muscat's populist whims".
Robert Callus, AD spokesman on mgration, stated that "once again Dr. Muscat is engaging in cheap populism in his reckless chase for where the votes might be. His proposals, if one could call them proposals, are more in line with those of Bossi and Maroni's Lega Nord party who want a section of Italy to gain independence because it is richer, than that of a self-styled moderate and progressive leader of a socialist party. AD's quest for responsibility sharing, approved by the European Green Party is not only implementable, unlike Muscat's half-baked proposals, but also in line with International Law and the Geneva Convention for Refugees, signed by every democratic government on this planet"