Updated 6.15pm with new comments by Alfred Sant - Former Prime Minister Alfred Sant on Sunday evening indicated he may seek re-election to the European Parliament, saying it was difficult to ignore an appeal made in the morning by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat.
On Sunday morning Dr Muscat joined a One Radio programme in which Dr Sant was taking part and urged him to stay on.
The elections will be held in six months’ time but the former prime minister and Labour leader - who had campaigned against Malta joining the EU - has not declared yet whether to seek re-election.
He was elected to the EP with a big majority five years ago after not seeking re-election to the Maltese parliament.
“Please don’t leave us on tenterhooks any longer because the country and the party need you. It is ultimately up to you to decide but the country certainly needs an MEP with such experience as Alfred Sant," Dr Muscat said.
In his immediate reaction to Dr Muscat's comments, Dr Sant said he would decide by the end of the month (next week). He said he had to consider his age (70), as well as the party and national interests, but he was glad to see there were several other promising candidates.
But in a Facebook post in the evening, he said that in the circumstances it would be difficult to ignore Dr Muscat's words.
Of the other two Labour MEPs, Miriam Dalli has said she will seek re-election while Marlene Mizzi is calling it a day.
Other Labour candidates for the EP include Cyrus Engerer, the prime minister’s consultant on EU affairs.
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In his brief radio comment while on his way to the EU leaders' summit in Brussels, Dr Muscat said the United Kingdom’s decision to leave the European Union was not something which Malta wanted. “We are losing an ally on a number of issues where we see eye to eye,” he said.
He said that, on paper, the Brexit deal between the UK and the European Union was done, but there needed to be agreement by the British parliament.
He also commented on this week’s medical cannabis forum, saying it was “stupendous” to see major companies listed in the New York stock exchange here to see what the country was doing.
He said that new investments would also be made in Gozo, where an innovation hub would be set up. The government was also speaking to Google for more investment and work, he added.
Dr Muscat also noted that the European Commission had approved next year’s Malta budget, adding that this government had gone from a state where the former government's budgets were not accepted to a state of being fully compliant with EU rules.
He said that the rate of people at risk of poverty and social exclusion in Malta had gone down by 17 per cent between 2010 and 2017. “Poverty is still a reality and we need to fight it and new forms of poverty,” he said.