MPs underline growing role of the European Parliament

Nationalist MPs Mario de Marco and Michael Frendo yesterday stressed the need for Malta's MEPs not to distance themselves from Malta and to put the national interest before the interests of political groupings.

They were speaking in parliament during the debate on the European Parliament Elections Bill, which will regulate the holding of elections to the European Parliament in Malta.

Dr de Marco said the European Parliament had come a long way since its early years, when it was generally considered as ineffective, and it was now an institution which represented 450 million people.

Although the European Parliament still did not have the role reserved for national parliaments, its influence had grown considerably.

One only needed to remember the crisis of 1999 when it was considering the EU budget and the conduct of the Santer commission came under the spotlight, a crisis which led to Mr Santer's resignation and his replacement by Romano Prodi and a new commission.

The influence of the European Parliament would grow even further should the proposals made in the draft EU constitution come to fruition. That would give the parliament joint law-making powers with the Council of Ministers as well as the approval of the budget and other roles.

The president of the commission would be elected by the parliament and be answerable to it for the activities of the other commissioners. Parliament would be able to move a censure motion on the commission, which would have to resign.

Dr de Marco said he agreed with Labour MP Evarist Bartolo on the need for a high turnout by the Maltese at the European Parliament elections in June, not least because that would strengthen Malta's argument for a sixth seat for Malta in the assembly.

Dr de Marco observed that in terms of article eight of the proposed constitution, all citizens of member states would be citizens of the EU. One would not substitute the other but would be akin to dual citizenship.

The European Parliament would be a new experience to millions of people in the accession countries, including Malta. It was important that in matters of the European Parliament, one thought and acted both in the national interest and as a European. Building a European mentality was a challenge which would take time to be achieved, but unity should be found in diversity.

An important ongoing development in the EU was foreign policy. While the EU had a "single" market and a "single" currency, it had a "common" foreign and security policy, meaning that foreign policy would not be imposed on any country and the accent was on consensus.

In this context, the European Parliament would have an important role as the direct voice of the European people in the world.

Dr de Marco said it was important to have effective links between the national parliament and the European Parliament. The draft European constitution rightly proposed that legislative proposals would be submitted at the same time to the European Parliament, the Council of Ministers and national parliaments. The national parliaments would be able to inform the presidents of the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers on their views when proposals did not confirm to the principle of subsidiarity.

The European Parliament should not be seen as something distant which made foreigners of Malta's MEPs. Malta's MEPs should be careful not to distance themselves from the country but, rather, serve as the effective link between the European parliament and the national parliament and act as the voice of the voters in the EU.

It was also important that the MEPs, although forming part of the various political groups, put the national interest first. He was sure they would collaborate in Malta's interest in the same way as Malta's representatives collaborated in the Council of Europe.

Nationalist MP Michael Frendo said that now that Malta had opted to join the EU and the opposition had accepted the people's choice, discussions on this issue in several fora presented a picture of unity in the country despite the different beliefs.

This would change politics in Malta in a way the country had not yet directly experienced. For Malta would not continue taking decisions on its own but would also have the possibility to partake in the decisions taken on a European level.

The Maltese presence in Europe would be real. For Malta would no longer be just an observer but one of the players, able to influence decisions to be taken for its own benefit.

It was essential for Malta to continue insisting on having a minimum of six MEPs, based on Luxembourg's experience. This made for more effective democracy and would enable Malta to be able to participate in at least a third of the European Parliament's committees.

The election of MEPs would be another new experience because, for the first time, Malta would be considered as one district. It meant that the people would make their choice on a national, rather than a district level.

Malta, Dr Frendo said, was fortunate that among the five people elected there would surely be at least one representative of the government and another of the opposition.

This meant that Malta would definitely be represented in the European People's Party and the European Socialists, which were the biggest two groups in Europe. Support for Malta in those two groups would be very significant.

Dr Frendo also insisted that those elected to the European Parliament should not work in a detached way from the Maltese reality. Their main purpose should be to represent the interests of the people who elected them.

Although the European Parliament did not have the right to take initiatives it was not just a talking shop, Dr Frendo said. Its role had been strengthened over the years and it would develop further with the adoption of the constitution currently being discussed by the intergovernmental conference.

This further underlined the need for Malta to be allocated a stronger presence in parliament and for the Maltese electorate to participate strongly at the elections.

Dr Frendo also underlined the need for the national parliament to be adapted to work closely with the European Parliament.

The network of decision making at the national level had to change as it would include the European network.

It was important that the Maltese MEPs kept in contact with one another and that regular meetings were held.

Dr Frendo said the bill being debated should be the opening up of the road for more political change in Malta which would bring about greater political maturity.

Dr John Attard Montalto and Dr José Herrera are being reported separately. Other speakers will be reported tomorrow. The bill was later given a second reading.