Former Prime Minister Alfred Sant said that due to the inattention of the previous administration, Gozo had failed to be accepted as a region by the EU while also losing out on the annual disbursement of EU funds to finance projects in Gozo.

The practice had been that of announcing new projects to be funded by the EU, starting them and then letting them hang out. Mercifully, that has now changed, he said.  

The  EP candidate was reacting to the Opposition Leader’s remarks in Gozo on Tuesday evening.  

 “The Leader of the Opposition confirmed once again that he is politically devious if not immature, plus technically illiterate,” Alfred Sant said. “What Labour had claimed prior to membership was that the net inflow of funds to Malta from the EU as a result of membership, at the level of the government budget and at the level of trade exchanges would result in a net inflow of Lm1.5 million. That estimate has proved to be too optimistic in Malta’s favour. Intent on propaganda and lucrative consultancies to promote the EU, the Leader of the Opposition remained oblivious to this home truth, apparently to this very day. The issue may sound very technical but it was one major reason why the economic situation of Gozo deteriorated during the past decade,” Alfred Sant said.

Dr Busuttil hit out at Dr Sant for having in the past few days sent a letter to Gozitans claiming that in the past seven years Gozo took less that €2 million a year in EU funds. Dr Busuttil argued that prior to EU membership Sant had said that Malta would only receive Lm 1.5 million in cash from the EU as a member.

Busuttil on Sant