Maltese MEPs appointed on parliamentary delegations

The European Parliament yesterday voted to set up 27 delegations to deal with non-EU countries and groups of countries.

All five Maltese MEPs were appointed to serve as members on different delegations.

Simon Busuttil, the head of the Nationalist MEP delegation, was appointed to serve on the Maghreb delegation, which includes Libya, and in the Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly together with another 44 MEPs.

Nationalist MEP David Casa was appointed member on the Bulgaria delegation in a committee composed of 25 MEPs. Bulgaria is one of the candidate countries and is expecting to join the EU in the next accession process.

The current Labour head of delegation, John Attard Montalto, was appointed to the delegation for relations with the Gulf States including Yemen.

Joseph Muscat will be accompanying another 14 MEPs for joint parliamentary sessions with the Belarus Parliament while Louis Grech will be serving on the European Parliament's delegation for the Korean Peninsula.

In a statement issued by the European People's Party, both Dr Busuttil and Mr Casa expressed satisfaction at the appointments since the countries involved were of strategic importance to Malta.

The MEPs said they had specifically requested to participate on these delegations in order to have the opportunity to bring Malta's contribution to the EU's Euro-Mediterranean dimension.