Malta to continue to press for sixth European Parliament seat

Prime Minister Eddie Fenech Adami yesterday underlined the significance of Malta having its own representatives at the European Parliament and said the government would continue to work for Malta to have a sixth seat allocated to it there.

He was speaking during the debate in parliament on a bill to regulate the holding of elections to the European Parliament in Malta.

Dr Fenech Adami said the Maltese people's decision for Malta to join the EU would continue to be one of the most historically-important developments in Malta's history. This bill was another such development.

The EU was set to represent the totality of Europe and it was very significant that Malta would have its own representatives in the European Parliament.

Many years ago, one of the Labour Party's arguments for integration with Britain was representation in the House of Commons. Malta would now have MEPs in Brussels, something which was of much greater significance.

Dr Fenech Adami said the government would continue to insist for Malta's allocation of European Parliament seats to be raised to six. Indeed, he was pleased to see the opposition pulling at the same rope in this case in the national interest. His augury was that this would continue so that Malta could enjoy the maximum benefit of EU membership.

The allocation of European Parliament seats had been a bone of contention at the EU summit at Nice and he had personally intervened with French President Chirac to call for six seats when it had been proposed that Malta should have four. Eventually Malta was allocated five.

Dr Fenech Adami said the European Parliament did not work in the same way as national parliaments because the EU was not a super state. But the European Parliament still had an important role.

Although Malta's representation was small, the five observers Malta had to date could appreciate that they had a voice in the all important parliamentary committees, where much of the legislative spade work was made.

Dr Fenech Adami said he would not hark back to speeches heard before the referendum, because he viewed this time as an opportunity to forge a different way of doing things in the future, with the two parties working in the national interest for Malta to get the best of its EU membership.

Dr Fenech Adami said he was pleased that the opposition appeared to agree with the details of the bill.

Malta's sovereignty, he said, would be enhanced by EU membership, because Malta's influence would extend further from Malta's shores.

Referring to Mr Evarist Bartolo's comments on falling turnout at European Parliament elections, Dr Fenech Adami said Malta stood to show Europe a new light through its customary high turn-out of voters.

He augured that the Maltese MEPs would work together for the greater benefit of Malta.

Dr Tonio Fenech (PN), one of Malta's observers in the European Parliament, said June 2004 would certainly be an important date in the annals of Malta's political history. There were those who were still sceptical of how effective Malta's participation could be in the EU, but the country had already started to make its presence felt, even as an observer at this stage.

Besides the fact that committees usually involved some 40 members, rather than 650, which was the number of members of the European Parliament, it was also true that the two parties' international affiliations would go a long way to help Malta's views make their mark.

Malta's MEPs could not be left to fend on their own; they would need the support of the House of Representatives in dealing with the voluminous paperwork and documentation.

While the Council of Ministers usually decided on policy lines, the actual handling of the individual clauses of legislation was done in the European Parliament, again with the full participation of the political groups.

At the latest meeting in Strasbourg, the European Parliament had voted against the reference to Christianity in the draft Constitution for Europe, even though there had been strong support. This made it important to think well on whom to elect to the European Parliament.

Dr Fenech said his months of observation at the European Parliament had given important insight into the institution's working. One case in point was whether Malta should be regarded as a nation or as a region. The natural disadvantages of islands were widely appreciated, but there should be no difference between island regions and island states. There was a difference between large islands, such as Britain, and other much smaller ones such as Malta, Cyprus and Crete. The indications were that the representations made had had their effect on an upcoming report of how this issue should be handled.

This was why it was important to set up alliances with other countries of like mind in various perspectives.