MEP seats: Prodi issue 'cleared up'

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi will this evening have the opportunity to clarify with the Italian government the comments made by Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi on the new allocation of seats at the European Parliament. Dr Gonzi and Prof. Prodi are expected to meet during the EU summit in Lisbon starting this evening. The meeting is expected to lead to a final agreement on the new Reform Treaty of the EU.

The Italian newspaper Il Giornale last week said Prof. Prodi had complained with Italian MEPs that he could not understand how Malta had been given six seats in the European Parliament, the same number as Slovenia. According to last week's agreement, however, Slovenia was allocated a total of not six but eight seats - two more than Malta. So far Mr Prodi has not commented on his apparent slip. Questions sent by The Times last week to Prof. Prodi's chief spokesman, Silvio Sircana, remained unanswered.

Italy is up in arms against the distribution criteria used by the European Parliament arguing that it has been heavily penalised by losing six seats. The Italian government is not comfortable with the fact that the distribution method used was based on the number of residents and not the number of citizens in member states.

Under the new system Italy has lost its pairing with France and the UK and now will have fewer seats than these two "big" countries. In a statement issued yesterday, however, Arnold Cassola, the Green Maltese MP in the Italian Parliament, said the allegation made by the Italian newspaper Il Giornale about Prof. Prodi's comments on Malta were false.

Prof. Cassola said Italian MP Sandro Gozi, Romano Prodi's former personal secretary in Brussels, told him that the news published by Il Giornale "is totally false".

"Indeed, Maltese and Italian diplomatic delegations have already met and cleared up the issue between them," Prof. Cassola said.

He thanked Prime Minister Prodi and his aide Mr Gozi for having confirmed that the Italian Prime Minister never tried to damage Malta's interests and, indeed, will continue to support Malta in its rightful requests.

"Considering that Il Giornale belongs to Silvio Berlusconi, the leader of Forza Italia which sits with the Nationalist Party in the PPE (European People's Party) in the European Parliament, I would not be surprised if this was just a move by the Berlusconi newspaper to try and discredit Romano Prodi, sacrificing Malta's interests in the process," Prof. Cassola said.

He said he would like to take this opportunity to remind the Maltese electorate that whatever "dirty tricks" Mr Berlusconi's newspapers and the PPE resort to, he would always champion the interests of the Maltese as he and Alternattiva Demokratika have always done in their 18-year-long political activity.