Noel Farrugia's letter (January 26) on the recently published EU fisheries report is one other example of the quandary he has driven himself into on the issue of EU membership. Coupled with this is Mr Farrugia's incompetence and lack of knowledge on the subject.

It is very evident that Mr Farrugia does not miss a chance to ride on whatever he can to denigrate EU membership. After all, Mr Farrugia has proved, time and time again, that he is still attached to his pre-referendum beliefs, notwithstanding his party's U-turn on the matter of EU membership.

Instead of rushing to write his letter, Mr Farrugia could have read the article published in The Times and, better still, the report published by the European Union. Had he done that, Mr Farrugia would have noted the report covers the year 2004, hence the first few months after Malta's EU accession.

The lack of catch reporting has already been identified as the result of a technical problem and not due to a lack of Maltese administrative capacity to honour its obligations.

That same report which Mr Farrugia is referring to highlights other deficiencies in reporting pertaining to other countries. Mr Farrugia's failure to go through the report might have resulted also in his failure to mention that Malta is in line and up-to-date in the reporting and re-measurement of the fleet. In this aspect, other member states, some of which have been EU members before us, have failed.

Furthermore, the reporting of Maltese catches started when the necessary link was established, and the Fisheries Department did not wait for the report to be published to start reporting.

Mr Farrugia should rest assured that the government has no intention whatsoever of "shaming" the Maltese people. But this is a bold statement coming from a person who can boast of promoting a policy whereby Malta was pictured as being the "small" fish while the other countries were the "big" fish ready to swallow us. This government has put Malta on the same level as other European countries, irrespective of size or resources. This government believes in its people and the country's history is living proof of that mutual trust.

With regard to Mr Farrugia's appeal to the Prime Minister, I suggest he consults the latest statistics by the National Statistics Office, which show that local fishermen registered drastic increases of up to 36 per cent in their income from fish catches for 2005, besides increases in the catches registered. This adds up to about Lm651,000 in just one year. It is equally important to point out that this trend has been ongoing since Malta's EU membership in May 2004.

Once again, it is becoming even more evident that it is the Labour spokesman who is incompetent, by resorting to accusations without first making sure he understands the issue.