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George Abela officially announces leadership bid
By MaltaMedia News
Apr 13, 2008 - 1:35:20 PM
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Former MLP deputy leader in the 1990s George Abela has officially
announced his bid for the post of MLP Leader in the June 5 election.
Addressing a sizeable crowd in Cottonera on Sunday morning, he appealed
for unity within the party and explained what happened in 1998 when he
was against a snap election and resigned his deputy leadership post.
The other contenders for the post are Joseph Muscat, Evarist Bartolo, Michael Falzon and Marie Louise Coleiro Preca.
In the meantime Dr Abela revealed in an interview with
The Sunday Times that
the Labour government had planned a U-turn on the EU back in 1997. He told the newspaper that the Labour government had in fact set the wheels in motion to re-route Malta towards EU membership.
Former Prime Minister Alfred Sant had personally drawn up a paper to start discussions with the Nationalist opposition in a bid to lead to "convergence" about EU membership and remove the EU freeze, Dr Abela revealed while saying that internal and informal discussions involved Lino Spiteri, John Attard Montalto, Dr Sant and himself.
Dr Abela had quit the Labour Party before it lost a premature election after 22 months in government. He said the Labour government had decided to shift from its EU freeze, irrespective of whether it won the election on that ticket.
Nonetheless, the Malta Labour Party had steered a harsh anti-EU membership campaign until the issue was sealed following the 2003 referendum and general election.
“For Dr Abela, Labour's decision to continue objecting to EU membership remains inexplicable,”
The Sunday Times said.
© Copyright 2008 by MaltaMedia.com
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Latest update:
Apr 14, 2008 - 7:02:52 PM CET
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