Alfred Sant

Alfred Sant
Prime Minister of Malta
In office 1996–1998
Preceded by	Eddie Fenech Adami
Succeeded by	Eddie Fenech Adami
Constituency	1st and 8th electoral divisions
Personal details
Born	(1948-02-28) February 28, 1948 Pietà, Malta
Political party	Partit Laburista
Children	1
Residence(s)	Birkirkara, Malta
Website	www.mlp.org.mt

Alfred Sant (born February 28, 1948) is a Maltese politician, Leader of the Malta Labour Party, who served as Prime Minister of Malta between 1996 and 1998 and as Leader of the Opposition between 1992 and 1996 and since 1998.

Career and Personal Life

He graduated from the University of Malta as Bachelor of Science in Physics and Mathematics in 1967 and as Master of Science in Physics in the following year. He studied public administration at Institut International d'Administration Publique - 1970 ENA in Paris and holds a Master of business management (with honors) from Boston University Graduate School of Management- specialising in International Business and Business Policy and a Doctor of Business Administration from Harvard. Specialised in administrative systems, a conceptual approach that aims to integrate managerial perspectives derived from business policy studies, financial control and organisational behaviour. Thesis: Problems of government organisation and management in the state enterprises of developing countries. Awards: Harvard Business School student scholarships 1975 - 1976; 1976 - 1977. Harvard Business School research fellowship 1977 - 1978, to finance action research for thesis.

1970-1975 Served as second and then first secretary at the Malta Mission to the European Communities, Brussels, BELGIUM.

Responsibilities: Malta-EC relations; bilateral economic and political relations with Western European countries to which the Brussels Mission was accredited. Special assignments: negotiations on effects of E.C. enlargement on Malta; renegotiation of Malta-E.C. preferential association agreement to include financial cooperation and new trade concessions; monitoring of international business trends; numerous working trips to Bonn, Paris, Madrid, Scandinavian and Benelux capitals. Resigned in early 1975 to undertake full-time studies in the U.S.A.

1977-1978 Served as advisor on general and financial management at the Ministry of Parastatal and People's Industries, Valletta, MALTA.

1978-1980 Managing Director of Medina Consulting Group, a unit formed to provide business consultancy services in Malta and abroad. Among the assignments which handled directly: a strategic, financial and operational review of a parastatal printing press; a feasibility and financial study for a Maltese-Libyan private joint venture industry; a financial study for a new luxury class hotel commissioned by an investment bank; a projection of the financial p[performance of a telecommunications utility; a review of economic cooperation possibilities between Malta and Algeria; an organisational review of a Malta-Libya state holding company; a macro-economic forecast of the Maltese economy covering the years 1979 to 1982.

1980-1982 Executive Deputy Chairman, Malta Development Corporation. The Corporation is responsible for all industrial development programmes in Malta; at the time, it was also charged with oversight responsibilities for public companies, especially in the industrial sector. Among the assignments that were personally originated and co-ordinated: international investment promotion campaigns covering selected European regions; negotiations with private investors having plant in Malta, or wishing to set up new facilities in textiles, light engineering, electronics, hotels; oversight and control responsibilities over major infrastructural projects being set up by the government, among which a new shipbuilding yard, a new foundry, a hotel, a land reclamation project, a new transhipment harbour, a central pig breeding far; surveys of the Maltese clothing industry and of the research and development functions in Maltese industries; pilot export research projects in the field, with full publication of the results, to stimulate private sector interest in new projects.

1982- Consultant to private and public sectors: chairman of metal fond Ltd., a foundry set up in joint venture between Maltese, Libyan and Algerian interests; chairman of Bortex Clothing Ltd (1982-1984), a private Maltese-Dutch company facing serious restructuring, financial and marketing difficulties; chairman of First Clothing Co-operative lte (1983-1987), the first industrial co-operative set up in Malta. Among other assignments handled: management of a rescue operation on La Nouvelle Co. Ltd, a clothing firm which collapsed financially after the death of its owner; a report to the Minister of Industry proposing a programme for the attraction of Japanese direct investment; advice to the committee drafting the Development Plan 1986-1988; between 1985 and 1987, served as advisor to the Prime Minister on economic and diplomatic affairs, assignments including negotiations in various European capitals on relations with the council of Europe and the E.C., and negotiations with the Catholic Church on a better utilisation of its property holdings; evaluation of proposals for industrial joint ventures in the U.S.S. R., Swaziland etc.

Dr Sant underwent a medical operation in on Thursday 27 December 2007. A medical bulletin was issued by the medical team after the operation, without revealing the nature of the operation.

Politics

1982 - 1992 Chairman, Department of Information, Malta Labour Party

1984 - 1988 President , Malta Labour Party

1987 - Member of Parliament (Malta Labour Party)

1987 - 1988 Editor, Il-Helsien, Official weekly of Labour Party

1992 - Leader, Malta Labour Party

1984 - 1988 Chairman of Metalfond and the University Students' Selection Board. Chairman, Guze Ellul Mercer foundation, an educational joint venture between the M.L.P. and the General Workers Union. President of the Party.

1988 - 1989

Chaired a Malta Labour Party working group evaluating the options for future relations between Malta and the European-Community from the economic and social perspectives. The report of the working group was published in Malta u s-Suq Komuni: Il-Qasam Ekonomiku u Socjali a book which was subsequently translated and also published in English. On behalf of the Malta Labour Part participated in congresses and international meetings of the Socialist International, the Confederation of Socialist parties of the E.C., and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung in Bonn, Paris, Copenhagen, Lisbon, Brussels, Dakar & Lima.

22-month government 1996-98

The Malta Labour Party (MLP) won the October 1996 elections under Sant who successfully campaigned for the removal of the Value Added Tax system that had been introduced in 1995. But rows with former Labour Prime Minister Dom Mintoff, forced Sant to call early elections within less than two years into the term, in September 1998, which the Malta Labour Party lost.

2003 Referendum and election

Dr Alfred Sant campaigned heavily against Malta's European Union membership. During the run-up to the March 2003 referendum, Sant was also critical of what he called a "sham referendum" insisting that a general election would be enough to settle the EU membership issue. He partially boycotted the referendum by calling on Labour supporters to either vote No, or else abstain or invalidate their vote. He himself abstained. The Yes side won the referendum by a 54% to 46% margin, but Sant claimed to have won the referendum as the Yes vote was less than half of the whole registered electorate. Soon after the referendum, in April 2003, the Malta Labour Party (MLP) lost the general elections with a wider margin than expected by Sant himself and he tendered his resignation as party leader. He did, however, stand for election again, was challenged by two other candidates for the post (John Attard Montalto and Anglu Farrugia), but was re-elected party leader with 66% of votes cast by Labour Party delegates.

Literary and Journalism

Dr Sant is an established writer and playwright and has published several books.

Wrote press articles in Maltese and English, plays, novels and short stories in Maltese. Published Min Hu Evelyn Costa?, (a collection of plays); short stories "Kwart ta' mija", the novels L-Ewwel Weraq tal-Bajtar, Silg fuq Kemmuna, and Bejgh u Xiri,

L-Impenn ghall-Bidla,, a collection of essays; and the political chronicle 28 ta' April, 1958

Other books include ”Fid dell tal-Katidral” , Kwart ta Mija, “Qabel tiftah l-inkjesta”, "La bidu la tmiem"

Editor Tomorrow, a monthly English language magazine (1982 - 1985) and of Society, a quarterly opinions magazine

In 1995, Dr Sant published a study, entitled "Malta's European Challenge" focusing on the need for Malta to establish the best possible relations with the European Union compatible with Malta's special position at the centre of the Mediterranean.

In 2003, he published the book "Confessions of a European Maltese". Citing from Dr. Sant's book: "The fundamental question relates to the best way which malta and the Maltese can progress in a European framework, that guarantees their European identity, while also being constant with there situation and potential"