Opposition leader Simon Busuttil fended off criticism levelled by the Prime Minister saying that the last PN government had secured the best possible financial package for Gozo for the seven year budget between 2013 and 2020.

Yesterday evening Joseph Muscat said that the previous government had failed to convince the EU to consider Gozo a region and the Opposition leader should shoulder responsibility.

Speaking in Victoria during an activity held as part of the MEP campaign, Dr Muscat said a request had been made in 2012 for studies to be held for Gozo to be considered a region. But the arguments presented by the Nationalist government had not been accepted by the EU.

He said Dr Busuttil should shoulder responsibility for not convincing the EU because Gozo deserved better.

Probed by timesofmalta.com about these comments, the PN leader this morning said that the issue was not whether Gozo was a region or not, but how much money Malta had eventually managed to secure from the EU.

He recounted that last year the PN government had secured €1,158 million from which 10 per cent would go to Gozo. He argued that each Gozitan citizen would benefit more per capita than their Maltese counterparts.

The PN leader said that contrary to the overall EU budget Malta's allocation had increased over the previous seven-year period.

Dr Busuttil was addressing a news conference to mark the launch of the PN's campaign for the elections in a number of hamlets. He said that the party was presenting 52 candidates of whom 20 were women.

The PN leader criticised the government saying that in its first year it undermined the principle of subsidiarity by overruling a number of decisions taken by local councils and by reducing their budget.