News • 14 September 2003

Labour fears lukewarm reception from ‘its’ voters for EP elections

Kurt Sansone
It is an open secret within Labour ranks that party officials fear a lukewarm reception by Labour voters for the European Parliament elections in June next year. Confirmation of this came mid-week when deputy leader Michael Falzon, insisted that Labourites should go out and vote because the party was going to be "active without any reservations," during a radio interview on Super One.
The rallying call, nine months before the elections, comes one week after former Prime Minister Dr Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici said he would boycott the European Parliamentary elections.
Speaking on Smash TV, Dr Mifsud Bonnici said the Campaign for National Independence, which he heads, would boycott the elections because of the futility of the European Parliament.

But on Wednesday Michael Falzon was categoric: "We are not going to lose any opportunity to continue serving for the benefit of all Maltese and Gozitans. I encourage everybody so that on the day, if we really love our country and the party, to go out and vote. The party has made it clear that it is not going to allow any opportunity to be lost. We are going to be active without any reservations."
The party is fearing a similar phenomenon to what has been witnessed in local council elections, where for years Labourites shunned the elections at a much higher rate than Nationalist voters.
For Labour die-hards it may be hard to stomach a change in the party’s EU policy, but matters are being made worse for the current leadership with Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici fanning the fire.
The former MLP leader is due to present an anti-EU motion at November’s general conference and although the leadership is confident that the motion won’t be carried nothing is being taken fore granted.
On Friday, Labour EU spokesman Evarist Bartolo, writing in l-orizzont, said that, if the Labour Party campaigns to withdraw Malta from the EU it would only contribute to increase the uncertainty in the country.
Mr Bartolo warned that the country would risk becoming a "political nomad" with no home if the MLP insisted on dismantling membership in five year’s time.
Opposition to Dr Mifsud Bonnici’s argument is mounting with former deputy leader George Vella also joining the fray. Dr Mifsud Bonnici is, however, adamant.
The former premier is meeting party delegates to convince them of his arguments that the party should re-open negotiations with the EU if it wins the next election. And he is finding sympathetic ears among die-hard delegates, who consider Dr Mifsud Bonnici a genuine person.
As one delegate told MaltaToday, Dr Mifsud Bonnici is more convincing than Alfred Sant because the former has remained consistent in his arguments while the latter has changed his position.
Another delegate said that, given Dr Sant’s lack of personal conviction on EU membership, he still believes that partnership won the referendum, the party will continue to find it hard to convince its own people to warm up to the idea that EU membership is an irreversible step.
kurt@maltamag.com