Nationalist candidate for the EP elections Rudolph Cini launched his campaign this morning on the slogan “A Strong Citizen in Europe”.

Mr Cini said he will be basing his campaign on the principles of trust, balance and responsibility and will be focusing on five main issues, namely irregular migration, the environment, industrial relations, women and health.

Addressing a news conference this morning he said on irregular migration that Malta was receiving a very high influx of irregular migrants and the burden sharing agreement had to be translated into reality.

In taking action, however, one had to keep in mind that the migrants were going through a great trauma with the voyage they were taking.

On the environment, Mr Cini said that any development abuse had to be controlled and no development should be allowed in outside development zones.

He said that EU funds should be used to Industrial strengthen the economy and safeguard workers’ jobs to prevent any further losses.

When he referred to women, Mr Cini noted that, at 36 percent, Malta still had one of lowest rates of women in the labour market. Moreover, the majority of working women were aged between 16 and 30. This was because women with families were finding it difficult to keep their job while raising their family. So more had to be done in this area.

When it came to health, Malta had an excellent hospital but more needed to be done to give patients a more efficient and accessible service. He called for more primary and preventive care through health centres.

Mr Cini, the former president of the Malta Union of Midwives and Nurses, stressed that the people had to feel part of Europe, noting that even though Malta had been a member for five years, many were still not convinced of the benefits.