The Socialists have officially complained to the European Parliament on what they described as the budgetary control committee chairperson's "unjust" treatment of Maltese MEP Alex Agius Saliba.

The complaint against Monika Hohlmeier was filed by Socialists and Democrats president Iratxe Garcia Perez.

Agius Saliba was told off as being “very impolite” during a meeting of the committee on Wednesday, after he argued that a European Parliament committee was discussing Malta’s use of EU funds for politically-motivated reasons. 

He clashed with Hohlmeier as he lambasted the discussion as a “partisan attack” that was being pushed forward by the European People’s Party, the PN's political grouping. Hohlmeier is an EPP MEP. 

The committee, named CONT, is tasked with delving into issues concerning the management of the EU budget. Agius Saliba is not a member of the committee and was only allowed to speak after Hohlmeier decided that he should be allowed to do so. 

In his complaint, Garcia Perez stated that the S&D Group informed the CONT secretariat well in advance that the Socialists group coordinator would be replaced by Agius Saliba. Such requests were common practice and, if sent in time, there was no reason why it should not be accepted.

Garcia Perez said Hohlmeier “refused to allow the S&D coordinator’s replacement take over his five minutes allotted speaking time” and instead decided to give Agius Saliba speaking time under a different procedure.

She said Agius Saliba was not allowed to speak for all the allocated time and “was cut off in his third minute” by the chair to be told he was out of order. He was then was subsequently interrupted to be told his speaking time had expired despite not having spoken for the full five minutes. 

“The S&D group is of the strong opinion that this was an unjust treatment of one of its members and that the CONT chair should be made aware of the error of her actions,” Garcia Perez wrote.

She hoped EP president David Sassoli would agree that Hohlmeier handled the issue in a manner that was “unacceptable, discriminatory and contrary to the rules of procedure” and that he would raise “this serious issue” with Hohlmeier ahead of the next meeting.