Alternattiva battles on

Six months after the European elections, Alternattiva Demokratika is still battling for a place in the European Parliament.

According to Arnold Cassola, general secretary of the European Greens and Alternattiva's only candidate in the last June elections, Malta has an immediate opportunity to gain another seat. However, he doubts whether there is the political will from Malta's side.

Malta has five seats in the European Parliament. However, as from the next elections in 2009, it will gain another one due to the Constitutional Treaty setting a minimum threshold of six seats for each member state.

Prof. Cassola, however, maintains that although it is true that the sixth seat was guaranteed during the constitutional negotiations, it was Malta's fault not to have it before. "It was Malta's right to have it since 2004. Unfortunately our negotiators in the accession talks did not think this was a priority in Copenhagen in 2002 when the final negotiations were held. They gave it up when it was offered on a plate.

"AD and I know very well about this because as from the Nice Treaty in 2000 we were the ones to bring up the issue of the sixth seat which had not been given to Malta. The Czech Republic and Hungary insisted on having more seats and got them. On the other hand, the Maltese government did not think this was a priority."

Originally, the first discussions on the allocation of seats in the European Parliament following the accession of 10 new member states was decided during an EU summit in Nice in 2000. There, Malta was allocated only four seats, when originally it was promised six. During the accession talks, Malta managed to get another seat. Then, when the EU Constitution was being discussed, it was argued that the minimum number of seats for a member state would be six, allocating the extra seat automatically.

Prof. Cassola said: "(Foreign Affairs Minister) Michael Frendo worked hard to be able to get the sixth seat before 2009, especially last September. However, Malta was snubbed for a mistake made in June. At the time of agreement on the constitutional talks, the Maltese did not ask to amend the protocol for the period 2004 -2009. That should have been done immediately, as soon as agreement was reached on a sixth seat."

In this scenario, Prof Cassola maintains there is still another chance: to have an observer seat in the interim period. He argues that, as normally happens whenever there is a treaty signed but not yet ratified, the European Parliament can invite Malta to nominate an observer to the EP. This has already happened on various instances, even in the case of Malta before formal accession.

AD has a vested interest in this. During the June elections, its candidate, Prof. Cassola himself, placed sixth in terms of the number of votes won and, therefore, if the observer seat comes through AD is hoping the seat will be given to its candidate.

"Yes we have an added interest but we have been pushing for this as from December 2000 when there was no clue of AD being in for the sixth seat."

Prof. Cassola thinks that if the observer status is granted, the sixth seat will have to be given to AD as of right. "It should go straight to the person that the people of Malta have indicated as their sixth preference. The people of Malta have expressed their will who they wanted to go to the EP till 2009."

According to Prof. Cassola, this would also be the case if all the votes are recounted and a new quota established taking into consideration six elected candidates and not five as effectively happened. Others tend to disagree, and I mentioned to him that the PN's Joanna Drake might be in the running again. Prof. Cassola did not like this interpretation.

"Ok, we recount everything and who gets the sixth place will get the sixth seat... no problem for us. If anybody in Malta, if any politician, is going to deny Malta a sixth place which is available because of this agenda, than these people really don't love their country. I hope it cannot be true."

The saga continues.