Labour leader Alfred Sant’s speech at the MLP’s annual general conference presented no new ideas and failed to provide citizens with any form of vision, the Nationalist Party said in a statement.

While wishing Dr Sant all the best for his comeback to the political scene, the PN said the Labour leader was expected to show the Labour Party’s vision for the coming years.

However, Dr Sant's speech was just like any of his previous speeches – full of twisted facts, remarks attacking the Prime Minister and the government, the statement said, adding that the Labour Party’s general conference confirmed that the party has no new ideas.

The PN statement also tackled Dr Sant’s mention of the European Commissioner for Consumer Protection, Meglena Kuneva.

The statement said that contrary to what the Labour leader said, in an interview given to a local newspaper on 28 December, Commissioner Kuneva had said: “Well, I wouldn’t think it is fair to say that Malta is lagging behind. On the contrary, Malta has, as part of the accession process in 2004, fulfilled all of the requirements for putting in place EU consumer protection legislation.

“In that respect, Malta is not only fully up to speed with other EU countries but in some areas its national legislation even goes beyond the EU rules.”

In his speech yesterday morning, Dr Sant tried to give the impression that Malta was losing out on EU funds, said the PN statement, adding that during a programme on the MLP’s television station, Labour MP George Vella appealed to those who try to give this impression, to be careful.

The statement quoted him as saying that the system of fund allocation is complicated and money that is not used for a certain project “are allocated to another project” following negotiations.

Concluding, the PN said it has been noting the Labour Party’s inconsistency. While saying it will adopt a “zero tolerance” attitude towards irregularities, the MLP has not said a word about its guest at the general conference on Friday, said the PN statement, adding that international and British press are currently reporting this same guest of the MLP as being accused of alleged irregularities.