Labour leader Alfred Sant yesterday insisted that his government would reopen negotiations with the European Union on chapters where the government felt it was in the national interest to do so.
He was referring to a report in The Sunday Times in which a European Commission spokesman appeared to rule out such a possibility, saying the membership conditions agreed to were "a done and closed deal" and could not be amended.
Dr Sant said this did not reflect what happened in other countries. Austria, France and Portugal, among others, had sought deals with the European Union when it was in their national interest to do so.
"We will do the same when it is in ours," Dr Sant said in an interview on Super One television.
Labour, he said, did not agree with government's plan to close the shipyards next year or to leave Maltese agriculture to drown. Neither did it agree that overtime should be limited.
"We will seek some kind of deal that would permit us to give these enterprises a new lease of life. We will do this while respecting EU laws," Dr Sant said.
Negotiations were not done by journalists and Commission spokesmen, he added. Issues were discussed in a political ambit of give and take. "This is what we are proposing."
The Labour leader said it did not pay to use scaremonger tactics as the Nationalist Party was doing. "We are in the EU to stay but we want to safeguard the national interest. Now that we are in the EU we have to work as full members and when there are problems relating to our national interest we have to discuss them and deal with them."
He reiterated his promise that a Labour government would not permit abuse of power, such as a parliamentary secretary carrying out personal work at Castille and another using the Good Causes Fund to help private companies that could be helping him in his political work.
Ministers and parliamentary secretaries would have to observe certain regulations which ensured accountability. "If targets are not kept, a public explanation has to be given. We will have zero tolerance on corruption." He said the Malta Environment and Planning Authority had to be reformed and to become transparent and more efficient, providing effective surveillance of the environment. The Maltese countryside had to be protected as a priority. Another priority for Labour would be a national system of waste separation at source.
On Labour's proposal to introduce a reception class in primary schools, much criticised by the PN, Dr Sant said it would help Maltese students get a good educational grounding and ease the pressure on them in their secondary years.
Contrary to what happened in other countries, in Malta there was a lack of teachers opting to teach in primary schools. The reception class would give prestige to primary education and attract more young teachers to the sector.