A new political party contesting May’s European Parliament election is proposing a referendum to decide whether Malta should remain in the EU, but only after negotiating a new treaty.
The Alleanza għall-Bidla, which describes itself as a Eurosceptic party, will field two candidates: Ivan Grech Mintoff, who contested on a Labour ticket in the 1996 general election, and Tonio Calleja, who used to present a programme on Smash TV for Front Maltin Inqumu.
The party claims it enjoys support among both major political parties as well as Front Maltin Inqumu, which campaigned against EU membership.
The party was launched yesterday when both candidates submitted their nomination at the Electoral Commission offices in Valletta.
However, their first public engagement had some embarrassing moments with commission officials having to intervene several times.
Both candidates failed to produce a photo to affix inside the polling booths and Mr Calleja was told he could not submit his nomination unless he produced the money to pay the fee.
Last night they insisted they did not have to present photos yesterday, and were asked to send them by email, and that both paid their nomination fees in cash.
The two candidates said they would be campaigning against EU federalism, saying that the Lisbon Treaty had stripped member states of their sovereignty. The party’s vision was to limit the EU to a free trade zone but with no political links. Both said Eurosceptic parties were likely to do very well across Europe and expressed their hope Malta would not be the exception.
If elected, they would join forces with other Eurosceptic forces in countries such as the UK and France, and campaign to abolish the Lisbon Treaty. The second step would be the drafting of a new treaty that would then be put to the vote in a referendum.
Mr Calleja accused successive administrations of breaching the Constitution to appease Brussels.
They were reluctant to speak about their party’s vision, saying their 10-point manifesto would be published soon, and when asked said they would rather not reveal the identity of the party’s officials.