Labour leader Joseph Muscat said today that the Prime Minister could find better people than Richard Cachia Caruana to serve as the next European Commissioner nominated by Malta.

Referring to press reports that Mr Cachia Caruana could be nominated to the position, Dr Muscat said at a PL question and answer session that even from the PN camp itself, he could identify two persons who were better suited.

One was the current commissioner, Dr Joe Borg, who had served brilliantly' over the past four years.

The second was Joanna Drake, the head of the EU delegation to Malta. Her nomination would also be a signal on the appointment of women to important posts, Dr Muscat said

ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION

Turning to illegal immigration, Dr Muscat said desperate people were being sent to Malta in an organised manner. The government had lost a golden opportunity presented by the recent arrival of a large number of migrants, despite it being winter, to present a stronger case in the EU, as Italy was doing.

He recalled that the Opposition had urged the government not to sign the Immigration Pact because it did not bind other countries on the number of migrants they would take from Malta. Months had since passed and the Prime Minister still had to say how other countries would share the burden with Malta.

STATE FUNDING OF POLITICAL PARTIES

Questioned on a report in The Sunday Times about a Labour Party proposal on state funding of political parties, Dr Muscat said the proposal was made in the Parliamentary Select Committee talks on democratic change. The parties had agreed to keep those talks confidential, but it appeared that the government did not agreed with state funding of the parties and someone had therefore sought to undermine this process by leaking this information.

The PL would not fall into the trap to publicly discuss the details of its proposals, but it was not only proposing state funding of political parties, but also transparency in the way the parties were funded. It was also being proposed that one would either cap donations up to a certain limit, or else, anybody who made donations above that threshold would do so publicly.

UTILITY TARIFFS

Dr Muscat said it appeared that the government was trying to postpone, to March 10 or 11, the parliamentary debate on the utility tariffs. Clearly, the government's plan was to announce lower tariffs for March and beyond shortly before the debate was held.

The Opposition would continue to insist, however, that the bills issued since October should be withdrawn, Dr Muscat said.