Former Labour Prime Minister Alfred Sant yesterday said his failed stand against EU membership should not affect his bid for next year’s MEP elections.

“We should look to the future rather than replay past controversies. We need to ask who is best to lead Malta into a bright future within the EU,” Dr Sant told The Sunday Times of Malta after delivering a public lecture on the dynamics of the island within the EU and the eurozone.

The lecture formed part of a series of activities being organised by the General Workers Union’s Reggie Miller Foundation ahead of its 70th anniversary next month.

Dr Sant had not recognised the Yes result of the 2003 referendum on EU membership, but had accepted the election result shortly after which saw the pro-EU membership Nationalist Party re-elected.

“The Labour Party was eventually faced with the decision of the masses and accepted it openly,” he said.

During the lecture Dr Sant also reiterated his claims that the mismanagement of EU funds had led to a disproportionate relationship between Malta and the EU. The former prime minister claimed the country had received significantly less than it had contributed to the EU in the past 10 years.

“It is clear that we are giving much more than we receive from Brussels,” he said.

He also pointed out that Malta had contributed a much larger percentage of GDP in bailout funds than other member states.

Dr Sant devoted the majority of his talk to mapping out a history of the 2008 financial crisis pointing out that local investment had dried up as a result of the crisis.

Describing Malta as “the EU’s Atlantic City”, Dr Sant said Malta’s overemphasis on services had resulted in substantial losses for the manufacturing and construction industries which had directly affected the middle class.