European Commissioner-designate Karmenu Vella said he voted in favour of Malta joining the European Union in the 2003 referendum, despite being quoted on record saying that EU membership was not the best option for the country.
The former Labour minister made the statement when answering a questionnaire for MEPs ahead of his grilling tomorrow to approve the EU’s environment, maritime affairs and fisheries portfolio.
Throughout my political life I have been guided by the same values and principles, which I would consider fundamentally European
Answering to the questionnaire, Mr Vella said: “I am a convinced European, having voted for my country’s accession and, more recently, as a minister in a pro-European government led by a former member of the European Parliament.”
On February 7, 2003, Times of Malta reported Mr Vella saying he believed EU membership was not the best option for Malta and that tourism would be negatively affected. At the time, Mr Vella was the spokesman on tourism for a Labour Party campaigning against EU membership under Alfred Sant’s leadership.
“For the private sector, membership has positive and negative effects,” Mr Vella had said. When pressed by the newspaper at the time, he said there were more negative than positive implications.
He was answering questions following a survey by the Malta Hotels and Restaurants Association showing that all hoteliers in the five-star category were in favour of EU membership.
But Mr Vella had reacted saying: “What suits hoteliers is not in the best interest of the country”. He had also said that he believed EU membership would seriously harm competitiveness.
“It is a fact that upon accession we will no longer be in a position to give certain incentives to certain markets or sectors, food prices will go up because of imports from the EU, and harmonisation of VAT will increase taxation,” Mr Vella said, as he put forward the Labour Party’s ‘partnership’ option at the time.
That was a month before Malta’s referendum on EU membership, which the majority voted for. In July 2003, Times of Malta reported that Mr Vella was among Labour MPs who were missing from the Opposition benches when Parliament ratified the EU accession treaty.
Yet, Mr Vella told MEPs that he voted for EU accession.
He added: “Throughout my political life I have been guided by the same values and principles, which I would consider fundamentally European: the principles of democracy, solidarity, of equality between men and women, human dignity and non-discrimination, and the social market economy”.
Mr Vella, who has been an MP for close to 40 years and served in the governments of Dom Mintoff and Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici, could not be reached for comment yesterday.