But the Malta Labour Party issued a counter-statement claiming that the government was persisting in trying to trick the people into believing that the price of beef would not rise.

A Department of Information statement said that Dr Alfred Sant was trying to deceive the people with his scaremongering campaign, which was being conducted for political gain. It was also an attempt to kill the positive atmosphere that has been created with the reduction of prices following Malta’s accession to the EU.

The DOI said that Dr Sant was not saying that the E800,000 the government had allocated to subsidise the difference in prices from May to December should lead to a minimal difference in the price of imported beef.

This subsidy applied to both fresh and frozen beef that is imported, said the DOI. Apart from this, the government was working to ensure that the price of beef in the local market would more or less remain the same.

With this in mind, Malta had voted in favour of a new regulation that gave an advantage to small operators when the EU establishes its next quota on the product. This information has, apparently, not reached the Leader of the Opposition.

Dr Sant should also know, the DOI added, that in July local operators may apply for another quota to import beef from EU countries. This should also lead to competitive prices as is the case now.

In a counter-reply, the MLP said that the government statement was an exercise in deceit. The information given showed that it is not true that the subsidy measures announced by the government could lead to a minimal difference in the price of imported beef.

Malta imported about 6,200 tonnes of frozen beef every year, together with 500 tonnes of pork and 1,200 tonnes of corned beef. The subsidy allocation of E800,000 was spread over a year, the MLP said. This meant that the subsidy on each kilogramme of imported frozen beef is not more than 13c.

The government said that it could import frozen beef at international prices under special arrangements. So far, only three per cent of the country’s needs have been given this benefit. EU regulations will not permit that more than about 10 per cent of frozen beef is imported under these conditions.

The MLP said that, even on this beef imported under special conditions, a CET ad valorem of 20 per cent had to be imposed. At the current market conditions, a 13c subsidy per kilo will in no way bring the price to what it is now.

Meanwhile, on the 90 per cent of the beef that will not benefit from the above-mentioned special conditions, a 12 per cent CET ad valorem will have to be added together with a levy of between E1,414 and E3,421 per tonne, depending on the quality of the beef.

This means that the increase in price per kilo of beef would be a minimum of 74 cents, probably more, the MLP said.