Former Prime Minister Alfred Sant blocked a proposal to discuss the unfounded Egrant allegations against the Prime Minister and his wife two weeks before the 2017 general elections in Malta at the European Parliament. This discussion would have strengthened the resolute of certain individuals in Malta who were orchestrating this campaign. Great efforts were unleashed to discuss this resolution before the general elections but Alfred Sant managed to postpone the discussion after the election resulted in a landslide victory for the Labour Party.
The Maltese MEP said that most of his political activity in Malta and at the European Parliament were not aimed for media consumption, when asked by journalist Saviour Balzan on XTRA which was his best contribution as an MEP.
“Much of my political work in Malta and at the European Parliament was meant to provide services underground. This was deliberate. With regards to Malta and the Labour Party, my best input occurred two years ago when Egrant allegations were prevalent during Malta’s election campaign and the Egrant issue was very much alive and hot.
Moves were made to put Egrant on the agenda of the European Parliament on the eve of the general elections in Malta. This could have badly affected Labour’s political campaign. I took certain initiatives to ensure that discussion of the issue in Plenary would be postponed till after the general elections. And that is what actually happened.”
Quizzed about this, Alfred Sant said he has full confidence in the Prime Minister’s integrity.
“I didn’t feel the need to contact the Prime Minister on the Egrant allegations. I recognized immediately he wasn’t involved …. because I have full confidence in him, I have full confidence in his integrity. He may have committed mistakes. But I have never had any doubts about his integrity. So I didn’t have a problem on this.”
Alfred Sant said that he expected that certain institutions in Malta would have been more transparent on the way they treated the Egrant story.
“In my opinion some didn’t treat the Egrant story in a transparent way.”
Alfred Sant spoke on his political contributions and achievements at the European Parliament. He said that every year there is a political and economic discussion among EU member states about the state of economic policy mainly in the eurozone.
“In 2015 I was Shadow Rapporteur on behalf of the European Social and Democrats (S&D) of the annual European Parliament Report on future economic directions. Political forces from the right opposed all proposals to include a social dimension in the final text. So I manoeuved to engineer a breakup of the coalition between the Socialists and the EPP on the file and the report was not approved in Plenary.”
The Maltese MEP said that during the following year, in 2016, he was Rapporteur on that year’s report and led discussions on the report on behalf of S&D.
“We insisted to include Europe’s social dimension in the report, the need for social measures to compensate for the austerity measures which had effected negatively workers across Europe. That Report passed through Plenary. First we blocked the procedure and then we opened it.”
Alfred Sant said he was always loyal to the Labour Party, he was always loyal to all the Labour leaders and that he was always loyal to Malta.
Maltese Version – ALFRED SANT IMBLOKKA DISKUSSJONI DWAR L-EGRANT FIL-PARLAMENT EWROPEW ĠIMAGĦTEJN QABEL L-ELEZZJONI TAL-2017
Ġimagħtejn qabel l-elezzjoni tal-2017 l-ex Prim Ministru Alfred Sant kien irnexxielu jimblokka diskussjoni fil-Parlament Ewropew dwar il-gidba tal-Egrant fil-konfront tal-Prim Ministru Joseph Muscat u ta’ martu Michelle. L-eventwalita` ta’ diskussjoni dwar l-Egrant lejlet l-elezzjoni ġenerali ta’ sentejn ilu kienet tagħti qawwa kbira lil ċerti nies li kienu qed imexxu dik il-kampanja f’Malta. Kien hemm sforzi kbar biex il-Plenarja tal-Parlament Ewropew tiddiskuti l-akkużi tal-Egrant , iżda Alfred Sant irnexxielu jipposponi din id-diskussjoni għal wara l-elezzjoni tal-2017 li eventwalment intrebħet mill-Partit Laburista.
Dan żvelah Alfred Sant fil-programm televiżiv XTRA meta l-ġurnalist Saviour Balzan staqsih x’kien l-aqwa kontribut tiegħu kemm ilu membru parlamentari Ewropew.
“Ħafna mix-xogħol tiegħi f’Malta u fil-Parlament Ewropew kien sotterranju – jigifieri minn taħt – żammejtha apposta minn taħt għax kien importanti. Dak li għandu x’jaqsam ma’ Malta u l-Partit Laburista naħseb li l-aktar ħaġa li rnexxieli mmexxi ‘l quddiem kienet ġrat waqt li kienet għaddejja l-kampanja elettorali ta’ sentejn ilu hawn Malta fejn kien hemm il-każ tal-Egrant … li għadu ħaj u għadu kbir.”
“It-tentattivi li kien qed isir biex l-Egrant tkun diskussa fil-Plenarja kienet taffettwa l-kampanja elettorali Maltija … allura l-arranġament li għamilt permezz ta’ ċerti negozjati kien biex l-item (tal-Egrant) ma jiġix diskuss qabel imma wara l-elezzjoni Maltija. U hekk sar.”
Alfred Sant qal li għandu fiduċja fir-rettezza tal-Prim Ministru.
“Fuq l–akkużi tal-Egrant ma kellix għalfejn inkellem lil Joseph Muscat. Jien mill-ewwel emmint li Joseph Muscat ma kienx involut ….. għax għandi fiduċja fih, għandi fiduċja fir-rettezza tiegħu. Jista’ jkun li għamel żbalji kemm ilu jmexxi. Imma li hu rett ma kelli l-ebda dubju dwarha. Allura ma kelli l-ebda problema fuq dik il-ħaġa.”
Alfred Sant qal li kien jistenna li ċerti istituzzjonijiet ikunu aktar trasparenti fil-mod kif imexxu ’l quddiem ir-rapportaġġ u kif jinkwadraw l-istorja tal-Egrant.
“Kien hemm min fl-opinjoni tiegħi ma ġabx ruħu b’mod trasparenti.”
Alfred Sant tkellem ukoll dwar kisbiet soċjali fil-Parlament Ewropew. Qal li kull sena ikun hemm diskussjoni dwar il-politika soċjali u ekonomika tal-pajjiżi membri.
“Jien kont Shadow Rapporteur għall-partiti Soċjalisti fl-2015 fuq ir-rapport ekonomiku. Hemmhekk in-naħa tal-lemin ma ridux idaħħlu d-dimensjoni soċjali fir-rapport. Allura rajt kif nagħmel biex fuq dak il-vot li kellu jittieħed ma nżommux l-alleanza bejn is-Soċjalisti u l-Popolari. Ir-rapport m’għaddiex u weħel mill-Plenarja tal-Parlament Ewropew.”
Dr Sant qal li fis-sena ta’ wara, fl-2016 kien hu li mexxa dak ir-rapport.
“Insistejna li ndaħħu id-dimensjoni soċjali fir-rapport, jiġifieri miżuri soċjali li jikkumpensaw għall-issikkar taċ-ċintorin u għaddejnieh quddiem il-Parlament Ewropew …. l-ewwel imblokkajna l-proċedura u mbagħad ftaħniha.”
Alfred Sant qal li jemmen fil-lealta` lejn il-Partit Laburista, lejn kull min imexxi il-Partit Laburista u jemmen fil-lealta` lejn Malta.
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