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Matthew Vella
With Malta having to wait until the 2009 European Parliament elections for its fully-fledged sixth MEP, the House of Representatives has not yet been invited to nominate an observer MEP after Malta signed the European Constitution in Rome, which lays down a minimum of six MEPs for every EU Member State.
Bulgaria and Romania, having only recently signed their Accession Treaties, were last week awarded 35 and 18 observer MEP seats respectively, with no voting powers. Despite Malta having a legal basis to be awarded an additional observer MEP, until elections are held again in 2009, the European Parliament has not yet invited Malta’s Parliament to nominate such an observer.
In 1990 a recently-reunited Germany had been invited to nominate 12 observer MEPs in an ‘ad hoc’ decision by the European Parliament which had no legal basis, unlike that of a signed Accession Treaty or the Constitution, although the decision had historical significance for the people of the former East German republic. The 12 observers stayed on for four years until the next European elections in 1994.
MaltaToday is still waiting for reactions from Foreign Minister Michael Frendo, European Parliament president Josep Borrell, and Malta’s five MEPs, the latter asked whether they would be pressing for Malta to be granted an additional observer MEP.
Head of the European Delegation to Malta Ronald Gallimore said the matter should be addressed to the European Parliament, since the European Commission cannot comment on the practices of the EP. “Although the Constitution has been signed, it cannot be implemented until all Member States have ratified it according to their own Constitutional procedures.”
European Parliament President Josep Borrell, in comments to MaltaToday, skirted the issue of having another Maltese observer MEP in Brussels, instead saying that until 2009 the seats in the European Parliament will be laid out according to the rules approved at Nice, which gave Malta five MEP seats.
EPP MEP Simon Busuttil told MaltaToday he would be consulting his party and the EPP on the issue, while PES MEP John Attard Montalto said the issue was currently being discussed among the three socialist MEPs.
It will be up to renewed efforts from the Maltese MEPs and the Maltese government to press the European Parliament into inviting the House of Representatives to nominate an observer MEP, certainly turning out to be a test of the political clout Malta enjoys in the European Union.
Malta was recently refused an early sixth seat in the European Parliament, after Malta would have ratified the Constitution Treaty in 2006, when several EU Member States gave the proposal the thumbs down.
Diplomatic efforts for a sixth seat were in fact thwarted by the refusal of France, Belgium, Austria and Spain to support the proposal. The decision, which required unanimous approval from all EU Member States, was taken in October during a COREPER meeting, which groups all Member States’ permanent representatives. Richard Cachia Caruana was not present for the decisive meeting as the Maltese permanent representative was in Malta throughout the visit by incoming European Commission president Jose Durao Barroso.
Malta, which was accorded a sixth European Parliament seat following negotiations held during the talks on the EU Constitution, has yet to wait for another MEP to take their place in Brussels until the next EP elections are held in 2009. In an attempt to secure the sixth before 2009 however, the government did not find unanimous support from all the 25 Member States.
Foreign Minister Michael Frendo had told MaltaToday that the sixth seat proposal was refused at COREPER despite all efforts: “We spoke to the Presidency and we enquired about any difficulties with other Member States, and we presented our case clearly, that we wanted to get the Protocol in line with the Constitution.”
Frendo said the sixth seat would have been in force by the time the European Constitution would have been signed, although that was also a matter of time before effective agreement would be reached between the divided fray of Member States, some of which are considering holding a referendum to decide whether to sign the Constitution or not. “At that rate, we would have expected the sixth seat by 2006.”
Alternattiva Demokratika chairperson Harry Vassallo had also kept in contact with the Maltese Government and was kept abreast with the status of discussions and lobbying after its candidate to the European Parliament, Arnold Cassola, ranked sixth in line for an EP seat with 23,000 first count votes.
matthew@newsworksltd.com
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