Sixth MEP says he is alone in calling for ratification of extra seat

Malta’s sixth MEP Joseph Cuschieri has poured cold water over the European Parliament office’s announcement yesterday that ratification of additional MEPs in the parliament was ‘only’ awaiting the signature of five member states.

Cuschieri has not yet taken his seat in Brussels, after he was elected for Labour when he vacated his seat so that Opposition leader Joseph Muscat could be co-opted to parliament. It has been 18 months since the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, but not every national parliament in the EU has ratified the special protocol for extra MEP seats.

“It is simply shameful that the European Parliament’s bureau wasted a year to discuss the position of the 18 new MEPs and now it is noting that a few states are left to ratify the protocol for the additional MEPs by the end of this year,” Cuschieri said.

The MEP said the bureau – which groups all leaders of the European political groups – had not even called on the new MEPs to take their place as observers in the parliament, or asked the EU member states left to ratify the protocol to speed up their assent.

“The bureau’s statement shows it is only fit for rhetoric and not action. I expect Malta’s MEPs to take the initiative and act in the interest of the sixth seat Malta has a right for.”

Cuschieri also said he was alone in making diplomatic contact with member states to accelerate the ratification. “I was alone in Malta in making pressure and diplomatic contacts with EU national parliaments.”

He said he found little support from “those who had the power to make real pressure in the European Parliament and with other member states.”

He did not mention whether he found any support from the Labour party, which yesterday welcomed the statement from the European Parliament. According to Labour MP Luciano Busuttil, the party spokesperson for European Affairs, Labour was “satisfied” at news that five member states would be ratifying the protocol by end-2011.