Barroso censure motion defeated

All five Maltese MEPs yesterday voted against a motion of censure presented by Eurosceptics in the European Parliament last month.

During a vote in Strasbourg, only 35 MEPs backed the motion against José Manuel Barroso and the European Commission. The motion was about a free summer holiday offered to Mr Barroso last year.

Originally, Labour MEP John Attard Montalto had signed the motion, however he retracted his name a few days later. Yesterday he voted against the motion together with the other four Maltese MEPs.

Two thirds of the European Parliament's 732 MEPs were required to make the motion stick but less than five per cent answered a call led by UK Eurosceptics. The motion, which initially won the support of 77 MEPs, secured 35 votes, 589 against and 35 abstentions.

Mr Barroso was accused of misconduct after accepting a free holiday on board the yacht of a friend, a Greek shipping billionaire. Mr Barroso defended his conduct before the European Parliament last month declaring that his actions were in line with the code of conduct.

The matter did have a casualty. British Conservative MEP Roger Helmer has been expelled from the European People's Party, Parliament's largest political bloc, to which the UK Conservatives are affiliated.

The British MEP was kicked out for publicly attacking the EPP and Conservative leaders for pressuring him over his support for the censure motion.