(Adds government's and PN's reactions)

Ministers who made serious claims about the now shelved project extending the museum of St John’s Co Cathedral should speak up in public, Opposition leader Joseph Muscat said yesterday.

This claim was denied by the government in a statement issued in the evening.

Addressing a dialogue meeting in Kalkara, Dr Muscat said that this sensitive and private meeting had been held on January 31 and one minister claimed that undue pressure was made in the case and another that EU funds were being obtained because of people who knew how to play the game.

The government was now making pressure to learn how the details of such a sensitive meeting had ended up at the Labour Party, Dr Muscat said.

Dr Muscat said he encouraged these two ministers to publicly say what they said during the meeting. This was what justice deserved.

But the government said in its statement that the choice of projects to benefit from EU funds was regulated by EU legislation and based on criteria agreed with the EU. Project approval was made by the project selection committee and the whole process was open to auditing by the European Commission, the Court of Auditors and Malta's Auditor General.

It was also not true that a minister had claimed that undue pressure had been made.

The government said the Opposition leader should not make St John's CoCathedral a political ball.

In a separate statement, the Nationalist Party said it was a shame that Dr Muscat was still sceptical about EU membership and its benefits.

Dr Muscat either did not know how the EU operated and how Malta was benefitting from EU funds or he wanted to deceive the people.

It was worrying that he tried to play a political game about how funds from the EU were acquired, especially since the people were benefitting from these funds through projects and investments that were or were being implemented, the PN said.

The Labour leader also dealt with the topic of illegal migration referring to his request for a Parliamentary debate following the arrival of 230 illegal immigrants this week.

He said that considering that the only month last year when the number of arrivals had surpassed this month’s was July, he had expected a statement on the matter from the Prime Minister.

But the Prime Minister said he could not understand Dr Muscat’s anger. This, Dr Muscat said, was because he was cut off from reality.

He said he, as leader of the Opposition, had the right to information and the Prime Minister could not expect the Opposition to keep its mouth shut because it was given a private presentation on the matter.

“I will not accept institutional omerta (Sicilian code of silence),” Dr Muscat said.

This issue, he said, was worrying families, people wanted to know what was happening and how the crisis was to be tackled and he could not stay with his mouth shut.

The government had been given enough time and should start answering questions.

Dr Muscat said that the immigrants had to be given human dignity and not fake solidarity.

He hoped that the Socialist MEPS would find the support of the Nationalist ones in the EU to work for the seat of a European Commission proposed asylum agency to be set up in Malta.

Such an agency was proposed in the Budget Committee by Labour MEP Louis Grech two years ago with the aim of taking over the screening of illegal immigrants to hasten repatriation.

Unfortunately, when the matter had come to a vote, the support of the Nationalist MEPs had been lacking.

The MLP parliamentary group, he said, will also be holding a special meeting at Marsa to discuss illegal immigration with the participation of the mayors of Marsa and Birzebbuga and MEP candidates. The meeting will help the party come up with its proposals on the matter prior to the forthcoming parliamentary debate.

Dr Muscat spoke on the new water and electricity rates saying that the aim of the Labour Party was not to have these reduced as from March but to have the new rates completely withdrawn.

A debate in Parliament on the matter was scheduled for March 10 and 11. The regulator was now lengthening the process to review the tariffs. Was this for a u-turn to come just before the debate?

Another this was better late than never what Labour wanted was for the bills to be withdrawn.

For these bills had been the result of a major drop in consumer confidence, creating a crisis.

The Labour leader referred to an agreement signed this week through which €10 million were being obtained from the EU for the AFM to buy four patrol boats which were to be built by an Australian company.

Although he had nothing against the Australian company, couldn’t the shipyard have bid for this contract?

Dr Muscat also referred to the waiting list for hernia operations which he said had gone up from 326 in 2002 to 729 this year, an increase of 123 per cent.

The Labour leader said that the MLP was embarking on a scheme through which citizens in localities having council elections this year would have the possibility of telling the party what they wished their council to do in their locality.

The party would also be embarking on real and proper consultation on education with teachers, parents and students, including young ones.