Brussels warns Malta over electoral rights for non-Maltese EU citizens

The European Commission has warned the Maltese government it will not hesitate to make use of its powers to ensure Maltese law reflects European laws on electoral rights for EU citizens in Malta.

The warning comes after a complaint by an EU citizen resident in Malta, who told Brussels that the Electoral Commission had not delivered voting documents to a relevant number of non-national EU citizens although they are regularly entered on the electoral roll.

The complaint was filed in 2011, during the local council elections.

Since then, the European Commission's directorate-general for justice had contacted the Maltese authorities in June 2011 over its incorrect transposition and implementation of EU law.

According to Brussels, the Maltese authorities promised to take action and remedy these issues. But the matter was still pending in March 2012.

EU citizens living in Malta have in the past complained that the Electoral Commission mistakenly assumes they are voting in their own country of origin.

Alternattiva Demokratika's spokesperson for international affairs Arnold Cassola has previously said the commission does not always respect its obligation of asking EU nationals whether they intend to vote in Malta or in their native country.

In 2009, almost 90% of the non-Maltese EU residents who were on the electoral register for the 2004 European Parliament election were struck off the new register by the Electoral Commission, rendering them ineligible to vote for the European Parliament elections of June 2009.

Newly registered foreign voters since 2004 amounted to little more than 1,000, leaving the total number of enrolled non-Maltese EU nationals approximately the same: a tiny fraction of the estimated 19,000 currently resident in Malta.

According to the electoral commission, all non-Maltese residents had until 31 March to apply for inclusion, and those who failed to apply were removed automatically. The situation was markedly different for Maltese nationals, who did not have to re-register for the June elections.

Despite the apparent discrimination, the commission stressed that this practice conforms to accepted procedures in other EU countries. "We followed the same procedure in line with the European Parliament law on European elections, approved also by the Maltese parliament," he said.