Updated | Cheeky! Watch Peter Agius offer Labour candidate Cyrus Engerer some advice

Cheeky! Watch Peter Agius offer Labour candidate Cyrus Engerer some advice

Nationalist MEP candidate Peter Agius looks excited to receive Labour MEP candidate Cyrus Engerer's campaign leaflet at home.

"Look what I've received!" Agius says to the camera as he flicks through the colourful booklet, referring to Engerer as his "friend".

Agius, tongue-in-cheek, says that it's a lovely leaflet. "It's nice... photos with the Prime Minister..." he says and stops short, noting however that Engerer made a "big mistake, a huge mistake".

On the leaflet, Engerer is quoted as saying that as an MEP, he would be on the committee that decides on EU funds and then goes on to refer to this committee as the Committee for Regional Development (REGI).

"Cyrus, my friend, the committee that decides on EU funds is the Budget Commitee, and then the legislation would go to respective committees like those on transport, agriculture, the internal market and so on," Agius, a speechwriter for EP president Antonio Tajani, says.

With a smile on his face, Agius's act ends with a wink. "Cyrus, if you need anything, ask, I'm here. Call me," he said.

Cyrus Engerer returns with lengthy reply

Labour MEP candidate Cyrus Engerer returned with a lengthy reply just minutes after Peter Agius's jocular dig at his political opponent. The reply assumed a more serious tone than Agius's.

Engerer resorted to a live Facebook video in response.

"He's trying to make a circus out of this campaign," Engerer said, adding that Agius did not have a monopoly on the European Union and that everyone had a right to do his own research. He added that he has met REGI’s chairperson MEP Iskra Mihaylova a number of times in the past 4 years to discuss the way forward on EU funds that are used by Malta.

Engerer did not admit to a technical error in his campaign leaflet and said that his reference to the REGI committee was valid since this is the committee that discusses and takes care of the way cohesion and structural funds are used.

"Agius is trying to pull our leg. We need to have Maltese representatives to participate in this commitee. After all, Malta has been allowed so many developments via EU funds. It is this committee that is important in order to have a less bureaucratic 'one size fits all' process of how to access the structural funds allocated to Malta," Engerer said. 

He concluded his video by saying that the current PN MEPs Roberta Metsola and David Casa had damaged Malta's reputation abroad.

"Will Peter Agius work against Malta or will he disassociate himself from Roberta Metsola and David Casa?" he asked.