Bartolo calls for strong turnout despite Malta's small representation

The Opposition spokesman on the European Union, Evarist Bartolo, yesterday underlined the need for a strong turnout by the Maltese at the European Parliament elections in June.

The political parties and the candidates themselves needed to explain to the people that the European Parliament was not some distant EU institution, but an institution that was rooted in local realities and MEPs were elected to work in the best interests of their countries, he said.

The fact that Malta would have the smallest number of MEPs and they would be hard-pressed to keep up with the volume of work should not discourage Maltese voters, but should, rather, encourage them to back the Maltese representatives with a strong mandate.

Mr Bartolo was speaking at the opening of the debate on a bill to regulate the holding of the elections in Malta for the European Parliament.

He said that the biggest challenge in the holding of any European Parliament election so far had been voter turnout. The average turnout had dropped from 63 per cent in 1979, when the elections were first held, to 49 per cent at the last elections in 1999. The average could, however, rise next year when the people from 10 new member states would participate for the first time.

To date, turnout was lowest in the UK at 24 per cent in 1999, followed by Holland and Finland. The highest turnout was in Belgium, followed by Luxembourg at over 85 per cent.

It would be interesting to see what turnout there would be in Malta, given the high turnout here for the national and the local council elections.

The fact that both major political parties here would stand for the elections would probably lead to a turnout percentage that would be higher than in most other countries. But this should not be taken for granted and both the parties and the candidates should insist with voters that the European Parliament was not something remote, but an institution that was rooted in local realities and MEPs were elected to work in the best interests of their countries.

It was important that all Maltese citizens participated in the EP elections because this was the third level of decision making in which they would be involved, the others being the national parliament and local councils.

One way how the EU was working to raise voter turnout was to strengthen links between the European Parliament and national parliaments.

Since Malta would be the smallest EU member state, it had the added problem of having the smallest number of MEPs, just five. The opposition hoped that the proposal made in the draft EU constitution for this number to be reduced to four would not be successful. Indeed, Malta should seek alliances at the forthcoming EU intergovernmental conference, so that the minimum number of MEPs would be raised to six, the number allocated to Luxembourg.

The number of MEPs allocated to Malta was too small for Malta to have a strong voice in the European Parliament and the MEPs would have an uphill task to keep up with EP business. But this should not serve to discourage Maltese voters from voting. Indeed, the Maltese MEPs should be backed by a strong mandate.

The Maltese MEPs needed to participate in the European parliamentary committees that most affected the national interest, so as to ensure that Malta had a say in law-making in the drafting stage. The earlier the Maltese MEPs started doing this, the better.

The opposition wanted the role of the European Parliament to continue to be strengthened. But there was also a need for national parliaments to have a stronger role in EU law-making. This was particularly important for Malta so as to compensate for the small number of European Parliament seats allocated to it.

The Maltese parliament, on the other hand, had to adopt itself to handle the huge volume of EU-related work - with up to some 2,000 legislative proposals made every year.

Mr Bartolo said it would make sense for the local council elections due next year to be postponed (from March) to the second Saturday of June, to coincide with the European Parliament elections, so as to save money.

Mr Bartolo said the MLP would be taking part in the European Parliament elections as a way of giving its contribution to Malta's benefit, following the result of the April 2003 general elections when the people decided that Malta should join the EU.

Dr Charles Mangion, deputy leader of the opposition, said the post-election euphoria about the EU had died down and speeches were now more down to earth.

There now seemed to be greater support within the EU for Malta to have six MEPs. This would give Malta a louder voice, not for the sake of numbers but in order to enable its MEPs to safeguard the national interests.

He agreed with Mr Bartolo's appeal for Malta's MEPs to be backed by a strong mandate.

The opposition, he said, was insisting that the structures of the Maltese parliament should be adopted so as to enable MPs to scrutinise proposed EU legislation and give their own imput. The Maltese parliament needed a strong House committee on European affairs which would encourage Maltese MPs to take a greater interest on how the EU would affect the way of life in Malta.

The MLP also attached great importance to working hand-in-hand with like-minded foreign MEPs, this time for the benefit of Europe as a whole. It would be another way of working for Malta's own greater benefit and alleviating the negative impacts of EU membership on the country.

It was important for this to be not only understood but also to be put into practice.

The bill contained a number of interesting proposals, such as the existence of the local electoral register, the European register and the registers of other countries. Another was the establishment of a fixed date for the European Parliament elections, doing away with unwarranted calculations about the best timing for political expediency.

The prime minister was expected to set limits on the permissible expenditure on electoral campaigning. This would be important, especially in view of the parties' active participation in the nationwide elections. Elections should not be won and lost on the basis of how much one could spend.

Dr Mangion said it was important that the European Parliament elections were contested by candidates who were really ready to work hard once elected. Coping adequately with the high volume of work was one of the reasons why Malta should have the biggest possible number of MEPs.

Active participation was important if Malta was to make its voice heard in order to get the best for its people out of EU membership, even though bilateral and multilateral relations were important.