Former Prime Minister Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici, chairman of the Campaign for National Independence, referred yesterday to the euro’s introduction, European Union funds, illegal immigration and the EU summit on the reform treaty during a press conference in which he was again outspoken against Malta’s EU membership.

Dr Mifsud Bonnici said that according to the Ewro September 07 supplement issued by the National Euro Changeover Committee, children in school would be educated on the euro and the benefits of its adoption. This was not just money-wasting propaganda but a brainwashing one as well, because the Bank of Valletta was sponsoring electronic converters for each family. He said that the time allotted to euro education would affect the time available for other academic subjects.

The euro would negatively affect Malta’s competitiveness and exportation because prices would rise with the introduction of the euro.

Dr Mifsud Bonnici added that Malta was due to get around EURO 855 million initially from the EU. However the government and propagandists failed to mention that Malta has to contribute EURO 358 million to the EU over seven years, leaving Malta with EURO 497 million, or Lm30.4 million a year for seven years.

According to The European Journal October 07 issue, the EU was losing one million euro a day due to corruption. There were 400 investigative procedures pending against EU officials and 70 of these officials were from the European Commission, Dr Mifsud Bonnici said.

On illegal immigration, he said that there were 4,000 illegal immigrants in Malta and their presence has serious social consequences due to the unrest that was arising. The EU was not helping Malta to apply the principle of repatriation and one solution would be for Malta to donate Lm2,000 to every immigrant to leave and go back to their country. This would be half the amount we are spending for every migrant each year. He also referred to the EU reform treaty summit to be held on 17 and 18 October in Lisbon, referring to it as only a revision of the EU 2004 constitution and saying that the EU took a very undemocratic stand by not disclosing the details of the treaty. The EU was bringing together all EU countries and forcing them to reach an agreement without offering the people the chance of a referendum, Dr Mifsud Bonnici said.