Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said that “Alfred Sant would do us proud as a member of the European Parliament.”
The Prime Minister, who was speaking at the official launch of former Prime Minister Alfred Sant’s campaign for election to the EP, said that in the European Parliament we do not need representatives who bow their heads to dictats and say 'yes sir' to everything.
“As deputy PM Louis Grech often repeats, you can’t buy the respect of others, you can only earn it. I believe that Alfred Sant is in a unique position to present solid arguments in the European Parliament. He has the credibility, the will and the technical capacity to make them. I believe that if the people of Malta and Gozo give him their confidence, Alfred Sant will be carrying out his duty not in the interests of a party, but as he has always done, in the interests of Malta and Gozo.”
The Prime Minister said that in the European Parliament Malta needs representatives who are down to earth and who aren’t starry-eyed, nor do they get dazzled by the stars. “We need representatives that speak out, that say what they feel and never lose contact with the people. When Alfred Sant was PM he still maintained contact with people and I’m convinced that if he’s a member of the EP he’ll maintain contact with people as he always did,” the PM said.
Joseph Muscat said that already in 2008, he had asked Alfred Sant to contest the European Parliament elections of the following year. “Alfred had then informed me that he was not yet clear about his state of health, and that he had a mandate from the electorate to serve for five years in the Maltese Parliament... What I admire most about Alfred Sant is his courage and honesty,” the PM stated.
Joseph Muscat recalled that it had been Alfred Sant who in 1992 had encouraged him to join the PL. “Some time after Alfred Sant became PL leader in 1992, I addressed a general conference of the PL in which I criticised those aspects of the party which I disliked. On that occasion, there were many who disagreed with me and I told myself that my stay within the party wouldn’t be a long one. But then two days later, in that same conference, Alfred Sant congratulated me publicly about my speech and encouraged me to participate in the party’s activities... I’m grateful to Alfred Sant for had it not been for his backing, I would have given up on politics. ”
Former Prime Minister Alfred Sant is contesting the 24 May EP elections on the Labour ticket. The official launch was chaired by journalist Simone Cini.