The EU needed a master plan in order to combat cancer, the Nationalist Party proposed on Friday.

Opposition leader Adrian Delia said on Friday night that the party was already working on this proposal was the EPP candidate for European Commission president, Manfred Weber.

“If there is one enemy that we can beat, it is cancer. Together we can do it,” he said.

Around 2,000 people every year in Malta are diagnosed with cancer, with one in every four dying of the disease.

He pointed the finger of blame at poor air quality, saying that 10 people a week in Malta died prematurely as a result.

Dr Delia’s proposals are for increasing screening for more types of cancer, as well as prevention. Apart from more EU funds, he said that patients and relatives required support.

He was speaking at a party activity in Żurrieq.