Attard Montalto writes to Socialist Group head

The Labour Party's head of delegation at the European Parliament who missed last month's vote on the Port Services Directive yesterday sent a letter of clarification to the head of the Socialist Group, Martin Schultz.

John Attard Montalto explained that, unfortunately, unforeseen circumstances had kept him away from January's plenary session and, thus, he could not show his support for the group's position against the directive. He said this was an important battle to be won and congratulated the group on its achievement. Dr Attard Montalto also referred to the upcoming vote on the Services Directive and emphasised that "we must be fully alert that having won the battle we do not lose the war should the Services Directive be used to rekindle the ports issue through the back door".

Asked by The Times to explain what the "unforeseen circumstances" were, Dr Attard Montalto said that once he had already instituted libel proceedings on the subject he preferred not to elaborate at this stage.

"The case is sub judice. However, rest assured I will tell the court why I couldn't attend and who I had told about this prior to the vote," he said.