NEWS | Wednesday, 11 March 2009

PRINT THIS ARTICLE

Nationalist MEP candidate hits back over Labour denials

Matthew Vella
Nationalist candidate for MEP Vince Farrugia yesterday reiterated he was three times extended an invitation by the Opposition leader to contest in Labour’s name, and also by Joseph Muscat’s wife Michelle: a former personal assistant of his at the GRTU.
Labour has denied claims by Farrugia, the director-general of GRTU, that he was formally approached to contest for the party.
“Joseph Muscat has a way of saying things in private, and another when in public. The truth is that he broached the subject three times,” Farrugia told MaltaToday.
The first time was an encounter at a social event in December where the two had a five-minute chat. Labour sources told The Times this was their only encounter, in which Muscat taunted Farrugia over rumours that he was contesting for the PN. Muscat is said to have asked him why he was not interested in contesting with the PL, to which Farrugia replied that the PL had not invited him.
But in a second encounter, both Farrugia and GRTU president Paul Abela met Joseph Muscat and senior Labour MPs in a meeting to lobby support over the rent reform bill.
“We were talking about the rent law reforms, and it was here that he tried to gently dissuade me from contesting for the PN. We were lobbying for Labour’s support on our proposals for rent reform, and Joseph came back to me saying – ‘OK, but what will you give me?’ And I asked him what he wanted and he said: ‘Come on, don’t you know? Don’t contest for them...”
In a third encounter in Valletta, Muscat once again reminded Farrugia that if he wanted to contest for Labour, the party’s doors were open to him. “He told me: ‘You know the doors are always open.” Farrugia added that Muscat’s wife Michelle, formerly a communnications official at the GRTU, also attempted to convince him to stand for Labour.
“Michelle and I had a very good working relationship at the GRTU, and she was very clear about her wishes for me to contest with Labour,” Farrugia said.
The choice of Farrugia to contest the MEP elections has ruffled feathers on both sides of the political divide.
Farrugia had been a kingmaker in the 1996 election, having garnered enough opposition to the introduction of VAT to help Labour into power in 1996.
But he later threw his weight behind the efforts of the PN government in favour of EU membership.
Generally critical of government, and currently embroiled in a long-standing feud over the introduction of the new utility tariffs, Farrugia yesterday said he fully adhered to the programme of the European People’s Party.
“I’m the protest vote. I’m a positive change for those who wanted to use their vote as a protest,” Farrugia said. “I have chosen the PN because they are in government and the government is represented directly in the EU. MEPs on the government side always have a better backing, so I wanted to be of maximum value as a candidate for the EP.”

PRINT THIS ARTICLE

Any comments?
If you wish your comments to be published in our Letters pages please click button below.
Please write a contact number and a postal address where you may be contacted.