to a level acceptable for the selling off of the Dockyard, in the same manner that we have sold so many other entities, Azzjoni Nazzjonali chairman Josie Muscat said yesterday.

Speaking in Sliema, Dr Muscat said the subject was a hot topic in view of the approaching 2008 at the end of which subsidies will no longer be allowed to keep the Dockyard afloat according to EU law.

There are one 1,800 families holding their breath as they await being informed whether their men folk will still be working at the end of next year, Dr Muscat.

Dr Muscat added that the much acclaimed restructuring exercise was aimed only at reducing the numbers in the yard to make it look viable. These workers, spread around local councils and civilian organisations to paint, weed and clean, are still being paid out of people’s taxes he said.

Azzjoni Nazzjonali believes that no people should be pushed aside in their own country to make place for cheaper foreign labour. It believes that one and all should work hard and honestly and with responsibility if they are to enjoy the fruits of their labour.

Dr Muscat said AN believes that nobody can expect to live off the backs of the honest, hard-working citizen.

It therefore proposed, among other things, that a Task Force with executive powers should be set up to examine the performance of the Yard Management and the efficacy of its working practices to weed out what is not working. The Task Force would have to finish its report within a stipulated period.

Dr Muscat said that the Yard had three choices in front of it: to change and adapt, to shut down or to be sold off.

Azzjoni Nazzjonali was in favour of the first choice for it believed that if management starts thinking in new ways, if it becomes innovative, creative and supportive, then Malta would not have to suffer the catastrophic loss of heavy industry. So long as Malta and Gozo remained islands, they would need dockyards, Dr Muscat concluded.