Labour's former deputy leader George Abela yesterday stood by his claim that an MLP government discussed the possibility of re-routing its position on EU membership back in 1997, despite having been contradicted by then Foreign Minister George Vella.

"I stand by what I said," Dr Abela said, when contacted, insisting that even the concept of convergence meant eventually aligning oneself with the position of the Nationalist Party, which was clearly pro-EU membership.

In an interview published in The Sunday Times last week he said: "We held internal discussions as we believed it was high time to remove the EU freeze. I'll never forget that."

But a few days later, and again in a letter published in The Sunday Times today, Dr Vella denies Dr Abela's claims.

In the letter he said: "As Deputy Leader Parliamentary Affairs, and minister in charge of foreign affairs, I can categorically state that as far as I know, at that time, and during the whole of that legislature, there were no internal discussions held 'as we believed it was high time to remove the EU freeze' (as Dr Abela was quoted as saying)."

In the interview, Dr Abela said that informal discussions had taken place involving Lino Spiteri, John Attard Montalto and Alfred Sant intended to plot the way forward on the EU issue.

Attempts to contact the latter two were unsuccessful while Mr Bartolo said he preferred not to comment at this stage on the grounds that he is a candidate - like Dr Abela - for Labour's top post. Mr Bartolo had also written an article in May 1998 about the issue, calling on the Nationalists to begin talks on a possible convergence of ideas on EU policy.

However, Mr Spiteri, who resigned from Cabinet towards the end of March 1997 said that informal discussions about Malta's relationship with the EU and the consequences of de-freezing had taken place when he was still a minister.

"Informal discussions with (then) Prime Minister Alfred Sant, George Abela and John Attard Montalto had taken place. I actually refer to this in my memoirs. I'm sure discussions continued in one form or other after I resigned from Cabinet."

Dr Vella, nonetheless, insists in his letter that the concept of convergence, which had been discussed internally by Labour was "based on the possibility of convincing the Nationalist opposition of the time to desist from continuing to be aggressive against our EU policy, by realising that what we were aiming to achieve in our relations with the European Union in no way barred any future Maltese government to proceed towards full membership, if the people so wished at any future date".

High-ranking Labour officials, who preferred not to comment officially, said the idea was to implement the necessary reforms to meet the membership requirements and which would have made it smoother for a future government to join the EU.