MEUSAC not on Labour's agenda

The Labour opposition has not discussed whether it should accept a renewed invitation from the government to form part of the Malta-EU Steering and Action Committee, Labour Party deputy leader Charles Mangion said yesterday.

According to government sources, MEUSAC is expected to meet on October 1 but the opposition has not yet replied to an invitation sent by the foreign ministry. The letter containing the government's invitation was sent over five weeks ago.

During the past legislature, the MLP was the only institution not to participate in MEUSAC.

Dr Mangion said the opposition wanted to concentrate on having a strong parliamentary structure that deals with EU affairs. For this reason, "at this stage" the opposition was not considering whether it should participate in MEUSAC.

He said the opposition's agenda was to have a very strong foreign and EU affairs parliamentary committee.

"We need to have a serious committee that deals with issues related to the EU and which falls under the umbrella of parliament.

"For us, participating at this level is very important. MEUSAC is very much a government administrative tool and our participation will be almost superfluous if we have a strong parliamentary committee scrutinising EU related issues."

The government has decided to restructure the foreign affairs committee into a new foreign and European affairs committee.

Dr Mangion said the structure of the new committee would be very important for the opposition because what took place in Brussels and Strasbourg could no longer be looked upon as "foreign" affairs.

According to government sources, MEUSAC would still have a strong role as it would monitor the implications of proposals put forward by the EU and will involve the whole of civil society, including political parties.

As regards the general interest members of MEUSAC, these will now include representatives of the political parties, of the bodies represented on the Malta Council for Social and Economic Development and of the Church.

The sources said that MEUSAC will continue to have a crucial role. "In a post-membership scenario, an issue would go to MEUSAC for consultation before going before the Cabinet committee. In reality the new set up would ensure that consultation increases."

The government is to appoint a permanent representative in Brussels in order to strengthen the country's preparations for the post-EU membership scenario.

The foreign ministry is also working on an internal reform of its own structures to be able to deal better with membership.