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Matthew Vella
The secretary-general of the Nationalist Party, Joe Saliba, has confirmed the PN will be lobbying in its own way for Malta to be awarded a sixth, observer seat as laid down in the Constitutional Treaty, after saying he had no problems with the party MEPs working for this aim.
The preceding weeks have seen Alternattiva Demokratika and the two PN MEPs, David Casa and Simon Busuttil, taking defensive stands over the fate of the sixth MEP who could be nominated by the House of Representatives if the European Parliament accedes to such a request. An editorial in The Malta Independent prompted reaction from the two MEPs who debated AD’s insistence that their candidate Arnold Cassola, who ranked sixth in the last elections, should be awarded any eventual observer seat.
Joe Saliba told this newspaper the choice of an observer has so far been traditionally in the hands of the House of Representatives to nominate an MP, but said this would be an issue that will develop at a later stage.
“I have no problems with our MEPs working on the sixth seat,” Saliba said. “We all have something to gain from such an effort. But I must remind all that there is a distinction between just stamping your feet noisily, and lobbying with certain prudence. There could still be doubts as to whether the EU will accept the proposal, or not.”
Likewise, MEP David Casa told MaltaToday that both him and Busuttil were working to do “all that is possible to get the sixth observer seat”.
“We are doing our utmost. Arnold Cassola could have told you that he first contacted me on this matter.”
Casa also said the problems currently facing acceptance of the proposal were arguments being made by other sides that the Constitution had not yet been approved by all Member States, but stated that Malta had an advantage in saying it had a legal basis on which to work from. Casa added that with regard to inter-MEP co-operation, work would be conducted with each MEPs’ political family.
The reactions from the PN camp arrive weeks after this newspaper’s first attempt to contact the MEPs for their reactions and after reports that Malta had not yet been awarded a sixth, observer seat after signing the Constitution Treaty.
Joe Saliba said both the Nationalist Party and government have striven to achieve the sixth seat at a time when the EU would have allocated just four seats for Malta, but which was elevated to five following negotiations with the EU: “The sixth seat was forgone to reap other benefits and derogations, the result of which were 77 derogations for Malta’s accession to the EU. The government was sure it could get a sixth seat from the Constitutional Treaty negotiations. In 2009, Malta will have six MEPs.”
Malta was however denied an early fully-fledged sixth seat by 2006, when the Constitution is finally ratified, after four EU Member States refused to accede to the island’s requests after a long-drawn series of diplomatic efforts.
Foreign Minister Michael Frendo, who was foremost in attempting to secure an early sixth seat, did not commit himself last week as to whether the government will be in fact now lobbying for the observer seat.
The PN now joins the entire Labour delegation in Brussels lobbying their respective political families to get the European Parliament to invite the House of Representatives to nominate an observer.
matthew@newsworksltd.com
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