PL MEP candidate and former ONE journalist Miriam Dalli said she was never against EU membership, referring to the time of Malta’s EU referendum campaign in 2003, but added that she did feel that Malta was not fully prepared to join as a member state.

Dr Dalli was replying to a question posed by this newspaper on how she expected the people to vote for her when she had campaigned against Malta joining the EU and is now a candidate for the European Parliament elections in May.

Dr Dalli said that everyone knew what the Labour Party’s stand was in the campaign leading to Malta’s referendum. At the time, her role was not the same as the one she is has today, that of campaigning for the May MEP elections. Back then, over 10 years ago, she was a journalist for Labour’s TV broadcasting station ONE.

“During that period I was a journalist and I was reporting events related to the referendum campaign.

“Therefore, I would not say I campaigned against Malta joining the EU, in fact back then I was sitting for a Masters in European Studies degree since I did not simply just want to listen to what the politicians were saying on the issue, but wanted to delve further into what this institution really meant,” she said, referring to the EU.

She added: “During the campaign, I had formed my own opinion, as was evident from some articles I had penned, and one cannot say that I was against the EU but at the time I felt that Malta was not prepared to take the plunge.”

Asked if she believed in EU partnership over membership in 2003, she said that “more than believing whether partnership was the right option or not, I felt that Malta needed to strengthen its economic foundations and once that was achieved, it was then that Malta would consider becoming an EU member state”.

Dr Sant, who is also contesting the MEP elections on Labour’s ticket, had said that partnership had won in Malta’s referendum, which hadn’t helped matters in the general election which followed a month later.

As regards today’s situation, she said, “Today, 10 years down the line, Malta is a member of the EU along with another 27 countries. I would like to see Malta getting as much as it can from the EU while also contributing.

“I do not believe only in what Malta can get from the EU but also consider Malta and the EU as equal partners.”

Questioned if in the majority of cases since Malta joined the EU, the country had gained more than it had lost, she replied: “There are certain areas where Malta did gain but in other areas Malta stood to lose.

“The people voted and their decision is to be respected; the main question today is who is in a better position to work for our country within the EU. I believe that the Labour Party is best suited to transform disadvantages into opportunities.”

Dr Dalli cited the furniture industry as one example where she feels Malta was not ready to adhere to certain regulations imposed by the EU. She said she had met a Gozitan who works in the furniture industry who was greatly concerned about the adverse effect this particular industry experienced as a result of EU regulations one has to abide by in terms of furniture imports.

The full interview with Miriam Dalli will be published in tomorrow’s issue of The Malta Independent