New mix of committees for Maltese MEPs

The European Parliament yesterday appointed its 20 committees which prepare the groundwork for EU laws before they are finally put to vote at the plenary session.

The biggest changes among the five Maltese MEPs affected the two Nationalist members.

Simon Busuttil moved from the budgetary control and regional development committees to the petitions and civil liberties committees, retaining his seat on the Budgets Committee.

David Casa now also sits on the Foreign Affairs Committee apart from the fisheries and the economic and monetary affairs committees.

The three Labour MEPs preferred to remain on the committees they have been sitting on for the past two and a half years.

Louis Grech will one again follow the Committee on Budgets and the one on Regional Development.

Joseph Muscat kept his seat on the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs - where he is now vice-president - and the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection .

John Attard Montalto remained in the Committee on Industry, Energy and Research and a substitute member of the Committee on Transport and Tourism. According to the European Parliament's statute, MEPs are given the chance, mid-way through the legislature, to swap committees.

Contacted by The Times, Dr Busuttil said he felt he can defend Malta's interests more on the new committees. The Nationalist delegation, he added, also worked hard to acquire a presence in the Committee of Foreign Affairs, one of the most prestigious among the Parliament's committees.

The Petitions Committee has, over the past months, been dealing with very sensitive dossiers on Malta, particularly bird hunting. On the other hand, the Civil Liberties Committee deals with the problem of illegal immigration in Europe, a subject of direct interest to Malta.

Mr Grech, who last year, as a member of the Budgets Committee, was responsible for one of the most important dossiers in the European Parliament dealing with the budget, said his delegation wanted to keep its presence felt in the areas where it had worked most in the first half of the legislature.

Mr Muscat is responsible for penning the Internal Market Committee's opinion on a European Commission proposal to slash international mobile roaming charges.

Dr Attard Montalto, a lawyer by profession, will also be giving his contribution on the subcommittee on human rights.