Attard Montalto withdraws signature from anti-Barroso motion

The sole Maltese MEP to sign a controversial motion of censure against the European Commission last week has decided to withdraw his support following intense pressure by the leader of the Socialist Group Martin Schultz.

Contacted by The Times minutes before the motion started to be debated at the European Parliament's plenary in Brussels yesterday, a spokesman for MEP Nigel Farage said that "unfortunately (John) Attard Montalto is not on the list anymore as he withdrew his support for the motion". The spokesman added that the motion still had 77 signatures as new MEPs had signed it in order to replace the ones who withdrew their support.

Mr Farage, the leader of the Independence and Democracy Group and proponent of the motion, attacked leaders of the Parliament's main political groups for trying to silence criticism by pressuring signatories of his motion.

"We have the leaders of the four big groups who are so blinded by their belief in this European construction that they simply cannot accept any criticism, particularly criticism they see coming from people like me: the dreaded Eurosceptics," he said.

The British MEP insisted that his motion, backed by Green and left-wing pro-Europeans, was not Eurosceptic in intention.

"There are plenty of people on this list who are going to vote yes to the European Constitution, who believe in the European project. It is simply a question of getting the European Parliament to do its job," he said.

"Remember this is not an argument about whether the EU is a good thing or a bad thing. All we are asking for is transparency, we want proper governmental procedures and we want the European Parliament, for once, to stand up and do its job."

The issue centres on EU President José Manuel Barroso's August summer holiday, a vacation taken before he took up his office, with personal friend and shipping billionaire Spiros Latsis.

Mr Farage argued in his motion that Mr Barroso's luxury free cruise led to a possible conflict of interest. A month after the holiday, a company owned by Mr Latsis received the green light from Brussels for €10 million in government subsidies.

Mr Barroso, who was not required by EU rules to declare the holiday, yesterday denied any wrongdoing and noted that the decision had been taken under the previous Commission.

Supported by his fellow commissioners, all present at yesterday's debate, Mr Barroso accused the signatories of the motion that they had crossed the border from democracy to demagoguery.

Mr Barroso attacked the motion of censure as a "mystification" of EU politics and a distraction as Europe faces looming referendum tests.

The leaders of the large political groups also harshly attacked the motion saying it was only an exercise in free publicity for its authors.

MEPs are expected to take a vote on the motion today.Ivan Camilleri in Brussels