The European Parliament offices in EU countries have been described as "an example of waste of EU taxpayers' money", by a Brussels-based think-tank.
The comments come just a few days after the official opening of Europe House in Valletta hosting the representation offices of the European Commission and the European Parliament.
According to Open Europe, set up by some of the UK's leading business people to contribute "bold new thinking" to the debate about the EU's direction, the EP offices in the 27 member states are not providing any important services not already provided by Brussels. The offices are "just EU money spinners".
Open Europe said that, only last year, the EP spent €41 million for "inefficient European Parliament information offices", which have a total of 237 full-time staff, each costing the taxpayer €173,124 a year. According to the think-tank, EP officials in these offices are paid on average €74,046 a year each.
Taking the EP offices in the UK as an example, the think tank said there were 17 people working full-time in that country's offices - 14 in London and three in Edinburgh - at the total combined cost of more than €3.9 million a year.
"This is despite the fact that the 'information officers' are often unable to answer the simplest and most straightforward of questions about the EU and the European Parliament. To cite just two recent examples, Open Europe was unable to get an answer about how much tax MEPs pay or any details about the European Parliament's second pension scheme, and other answers took days to arrive."
Malta's EP office was first opened in Valletta in July 2003 and has a staff complement of four officers, including its head.
During the last EP elections, the office was actively campaigning for a large voter turnout and launched various initiatives. Malta ended up with the highest voter turnout in the EU. Speaking to The Times, an EP official defended the role of its information offices and described Open Europe's comments as "coming from the usual Eurosceptic camp in the UK".
The official said that its offices, including the one in Malta, were serving a very important function of bridging the gap between EU citizens and the institutions in Brussels.