Serracino Inglott disappointed by EU convention

Malta's representative at the Convention on the Future of Europe, Rev Prof Peter Serracino Inglott, told the House Foreign Affairs Committee yesterday that he was disappointed by the outcome of the convention.

He said the Laaken EU summit had called on governments to nominate experts rather than politicians to the convention. Although this was the case at the beginning, many countries changed their representatives to politicians half way through, turning the convention into a form of inter-governmental conference. The presence of political heavyweights had hindered the free atmosphere of discussion there had been at the beginning.

Prof Serracino Inglott said the Laaken meeting had asked the convention to consider how European institutions could be brought closer to the people and suggested greater participation of national parliaments in the EU process.

The convention had recommended, among other things, the creation of an electronic network among national parliaments to ensure that MPs would know about all that was moved in the European Parliament. This was, however, not included in the draft EU constitution.

Prof Serracino Inglott said that the way the convention was managed did not allow for the development of institutional issues.

He said he was surprised by the quasi consensus against the creation of a new institution between the European and national parliaments. The proposal, by Juliano Amato, had found only Malta's support, possibly because of reluctance by Members of the European Parliament.

Replying to questions by members of the committee, Prof Serracino Inglott said that Malta was continuing to insist that every EU member state should have at least five seats in the European Parliament. Malta was being backed in this view by 16 small member or acceding countries including Finland, Portugal, Ireland and Austria, which were willing to stick their neck out for Malta during the inter-governmental conference.