PN candidates want Gozo recognised as standalone region

Nationalist Party candidates in the European elections Kevin Cutajar, a Gozitan, and MP Francis Zammit Dimech, want to have Gozo recognised as a separate region in the EU, in a bid to have the sister island benefit from EU funds and regional projects.

“Job creation will always remain the top priority, but this requires investment. The PN’s vision is to push forward Gozo’s regional policy agenda which would result in increased investment to the island,” Cutajar said.

Entering its third day of campaigning, the PN was in Gozo where leader Simon Busuttil will visit businesses and hold a political activity in the evening. 

PN secretary-general Chris Said took the government to task over its “failure to achieve results in Gozo”.

Little was said over the party’s Gozo manifesto for the EP elections, as the press conference focused on “disgruntled” Gozitans who voted for Labour in 2013.

Said argued that it was “another Labour illusion” that it had won the majority of votes in Gozo. “Joseph Muscat was here last year promising Gozitans a roadmap that would be implemented once the party was elected to government. But 14 months later, unemployment in Gozo rose by 6% and no new initiatives or projects were implemented,” he said.

He conceded that tourism had increased on the island, but Said argued that Gozo needed yet more tourists to flourish. “Gozitans were promised work for Gozitans in Gozo. Yet, the number of Gozitans crossing the channel for work has increased, including those who used to work in Gozo.”

Said lambasted the government’s decision to remove health and education from the Gozo ministry, “turning it into a local council… And to humiliate us even more, Joseph Muscat appointed backbencher Joe Debono Grech to  oversee the ministry’s work,” he said.

While the government is seriously considering an airstrip in Gozo, Said said more studies were needed to confirm its viability. “What is the most popular form of accessibility? You would have a maximum 5% crossing the channel by air while sea remains the absolute most popular.”

Explaining that the PN will be running "a modest electoral campaign", Said accused Labour of funding its campaign through taxpayers' money citing the countless billboards erected across Malta's main roads.