Former Labour Prime Minister Alfred Sant has declared his intention to contest the European Parliament elections in 2014 but will not be standing in the upcoming general election.

The former Labour leader declared his intentions in a letter to the party after consulting party leader Joseph Muscat.

Dr Sant was Labour leader between 1992 and 2008 and led his party's campaign against EU membership.

Before entering the political fray, he served in the Maltese embassy in Brussels. He has also written a number of books on EU issues.

PN REACTS

In a reaction, the Nationalist Party said this was another mistaken decision by Joseph Muscat, who wanted to send to the European Parliament somebody who had opposed EU membership. This decision showed how the PL was still euro sceptic.

The PN recalled that Dr Sant and Dr Muscat had together led the campaign against accession. Had their campaign succeeded, Malta would have been denied the benefits of EU membership, including funds for major infrastructural projects and educational facilities such as Mcast labs and the IT Faculty at the university.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.