The Nationalist Party will host a political assembly of Europe’s largest political grouping, the EPP, next week.

The European People’s Party assembly will be held at PN headquarters on Thursday and Friday next week, November 21 and 22.

Party leader Bernard Grech will be among the European leaders opening the assembly, alongside EPP President Manfred Weber.

The EPP is the largest political party in Europe and PN MEPs form part of it within the European Parliament.

Its annual assembly will help set the party’s political direction, with discussions focussed on people’s quality of life and the situation in the Mediterranean, the PN said in a statement on Saturday.

PN General Secretary Michael Piccinino said the fact that the EPP had chosen Malta and the PN as hosts was proof that the EPP saw the party as the only real force of change in Malta.

“Before the June election, we promised that the Partit Nazzjonalista would ensure that the issues facing the Maltese and Gozitan people would be raised at a European level, so Europe addresses what is affecting Malta and Gozo.

This is exactly what we will be doing next week,” Piccinino said.

Piccinino was joined for the announcement by PN International Secretary Beppe Galea. Both have said they intend to run for a seat in parliament in the next general election.

Apart from party leaders and EPP leader Manfred Weber, next week’s EPP assembly will host European Parliament President (and EPP MEP) Roberta Metsola, EPP Vice Presidents, several European Commission Vice Presidents, and European Commissioners, along with other leaders.

The Labour Party reacted to the announcement of the EPP event by saying it was “insensitive” for the PN to have announced details of the event without  also discussing an EPP decision to vote down a push for a debate at the European Parliament on the situation in Gaza.

The PN has said that its MEPs voted against the motion because the proposal was presented by the European Parliament’s extreme left without prior consultation, as is customary when setting the parliament’s agenda.

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