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Matthew Vella
The Minister of Foreign Affairs has reacted to this newspaper’s reports on the possibility of Malta lobbying for a sixth, observer seat in the European Parliament but has not committed himself as to whether the government intends requesting Malta’s observer seat any time sooner before it gets its full representation in 2009.
Minister Michael Frendo has simply reiterated Malta’s failed attempt at securing its fully-fledged sixth seat ahead of the 2009 elections, after intense diplomatic efforts were thwarted by the refusal of four EU Member States at the COREPER meeting of 6 October 2004, which groups all permanent representatives.
Frendo said Malta had requested a ‘technical adjustment’, namely to have the sixth seat in the European Parliament right after ratification in 2006 of the Constitution Treaty which lays down a minimum of six seats for Malta, but no consensus was reached and Malta’s request was not acceded to.
MaltaToday is informed that France, Belgium, Austria and Spain refused to support the proposal, which were wary of creating a precedent by awarding the seat ahead of the 2009 elections.
Frendo however did not say whether the government intends lobbying for Malta’s observer seat now that it has signed the Constitution, which provides a legal basis for Malta to request an observer seat. Both Bulgaria and Romania, who recently signed the Accession Treaty for entry into the EU, were awarded 35 and 18 observer MEPs respectively, without any voting powers. Germany was awarded 12 MEP seats to be occupied by representatives from the former Eastern German republic following reunification, in a historic yet ‘ad hoc’ decision which lacked any legal basis.
Socialist MEP John Attard Montalto is the first of Malta’s representatives to have taken up the initiative to lobby the EP into inviting the House of Representatives to nominate an additional, observer MEP.
He has also been joined by fellow MEPs Joseph Muscat and Louis Grech, who told MaltaToday they felt Malta “should be given a sixth EP observer seat with immediate effect.” The two MEPs said they will be moving this idea forward with the Socialist Group. “As in all cases where it is in Malta’s best interest, as in this particular case, we are ready to work with all those who support this issue.”
There was still no comment forthcoming from Nationalist MEPs David Casa and Simon Busuttil on whether they will be lobbying for the sixth seat, although Casa told MaltaToday the matter is still being discussed at Nationalist Party level.
Attard Montalto himself has been critical in his evaluation of the government’s final effort in attempting to secure an early sixth seat, referring to the absence of Malta’s permanent representative Richard Cachia Caruana from the decisive COREPER meeting in October, which required the unanimous approval of all Member States: “Was it deliberate? Who knows? But of one thing I am sure, that the Nationalist Government never expected to be defeated in the European Parliament elections and at the time viewed the sixth seat as a bonus for Labour or Alternattiva. How things change.”
He recently told this newspaper the government should be the prime mover over the sixth seat, although he expressed his doubts as to whether it was ready to take the initiative due to the overarching factor of having Alternattiva Demokratika candidate Arnold Cassola, who ranked sixth in the European Parliament elections with 23,000 votes, take up the sixth observer seat.
“We all remember the atrocious abortion campaign conducted by the Nationalist media machine intended to smear Prof Cassola. Perhaps if Government was assured that the representation would be a Nationalist observer than we would have witnessed a whole different attitude, especially in Brussels. But of course, their original fear of Alternattiva gaining relevance still exists.”
MaltaToday has also confirmed with the EU’s legal services that “a sixth representative of the people of Malta to the European Parliament is designated by the national Parliament of Malta according to the procedure fixed by this country.”
Malta stands to be the first EU Member State to which an observer could be nominated after an election for the European Parliament has been held, as observers usually hail from candidate countries that have not attained full membership status.
matthew@newsworksltd.com
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