MEPs' plan only partially successful

A plan agreed upon by all five Maltese members of the European Parliament to seek participation in a number of targeted committees has only been partially successful.

The Times has learned that days after the elections for the European Parliament took place in June, a meeting was held at Castille between the five elected MEPs in the presence of Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi.

During this meeting, discussions were held about which committees the Maltese MEPs should aim to sit on.

The European Parliament has 20 committees which are the backbone of the work carried out by the European Parliament throughout its five-year term.

Considering the fact that Malta had only five MEPs, it was agreed that, in the best interest of the country, all five members should participate in separate committees in order to cover the widest range of subjects possible, particularly those of direct interest to Malta.

A written agreement is known to have been signed by the five MEPs saying they would insist with their respective political groups on the allocation of the committees agreed upon during the meeting.

There was interest by both the Nationalist and Labour MEPs in sitting on the regional development committee and so it was decided that both should seek participation.

It was also decided that the two Nationalist MEPs would sit on the committees dealing with budgets, regional development, economic and monetary affairs and the environment. The Labour MEPs were to seek participation in the committees covering industry, foreign affairs, regional development, transport and tourism, social policy and the internal market.

The list of committee members published in Strasbourg last week however shows that not all targets were reached.

Nationalist MEPs Simon Busuttil and David Casa were assigned to all the four committees they had aimed for. But the three Labour MEPs were not as lucky.

It resulted that out of the six committees the Labour MEPs aimed for, they succeeded in securing participation in four.

Joseph Muscat and Louis Grech will be participating in the same committees as Dr Busuttil and Mr Casa, a situation the MEPs had wanted to avoid.

Replying to questions by The Times, the MLP's international secretary Joe Mifsud explained that the Socialist Group, which has 200 MEPs, did not have enough posts to accommodate all its members' wishes. The Labour MEPs had worked hard to sit on the committees they had aimed for but had to face tough competition from other parliamentarians in the same group, he said.

Dr Busuttil, who heads the PN delegation, confirmed that an agreement on the committee had been reached after the election but did not wish to elaborate.