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By a staff reporter
It was a pathetic and ill-informed Nationalist MP Jason Azzopardi, who on Radio 101 tried to entice voters to cast their preference for Nationalist candidates in the forthcoming European Parliament election on the basis that PN MEPs would have more speaking time in parliament.
Azzopardi was speaking mid-week in one of the phone-in programmes on Radio 101. At one point he stated that Nationalist MEPs would have more speaking time in parliament given they would form part of the European People’s Party, which is the largest political grouping.
Although the rules of procedure of the European Parliament imply that speaking time during the plenary session when all MEPs are convened be divided in proportion to the total number of members of the particular political group, Azzopardi made no reference to the committee meetings where speaking time is not restricted.
The European Parliament currently has 17 committees each tackling different policy areas. These are expected to increase after June. Each MEP has to be a member of at least two committees. It is in these committees that the hardball stuff of drafting and debating regulations, proposals and resolutions is conducted and where Maltese MEPs are expected to make their contribution.
Debate in the plenary session is limited and when it meets it is normally to vote on the resolutions brought forward by the various committees.
The amount of time allocated to the different political groupings during the plenary session is of little importance when compared to the quality and quantity of contributions Maltese MEPs have to make in the committees.
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