Nationalist MEP candidate Marthese Portelli launched her campaign by spending half a day visiting places related to the main areas she wants to work on if elected.

She said finding a balance between the economy, work and the family was a central pillar for her, as was the need to create incentives for entrepreneurs to invest and generate more employment. She explained that jobs needed to be more flexible so that whoever wanted to work would be able to do so and she appealed for more investment in Gozo.

Dr Portelli called for the improvement of the environment and said animals had feelings just like human beings so NGOs working in this field needed to be given their due recognition.

She added that Malta had to be given more financial and operational help from other EU countries to control the human tragedy of illegal immigration.

As a member of the EP she said she would assist people apply for EU funds by helping them identify the particular programmes and fill in the application forms.