The former president of the Church's commission on EU matters, Vanni Xuereb, has been appointed chairman of the Malta-EU Steering Action Committee (Meusac), which will be revived in the coming months after it laid dormant following accession.

The composition of the committee and its mechanics still have to be fleshed out but it is understood that the body should be up and running by the end of June.

Meusac had served as an important consultative forum in the run up to EU accession. It stopped functioning in 2004, a move that attracted criticism from quite a few quarters.

Besides having a consultative function, the committee will now also take over the role of the Forum Malta Fl-Ewropa, which itself took over from the Malta EU Information Centre (MIC), as the main information outlet on matters relating to the EU after accession. The new Meusec will also be focusing on the union's funding opportunities.

Dr Xuereb, a lawyer who specialises in EU law, headed the Church In Malta And Europe Commission between 1999 and 2008 and was the Curia's main consultant on EU affairs.

He was among the first Maltese to study at the European College in Bruges, Belgium in the late 1980s and served in the legal office of Malta's then Permanent Representation to the European Communities in Brussels.

Contacted yesterday, Dr Xuereb confirmed his appointment. "I see this as a challenge," he said. "Besides my specialisation in European studies, I have been working in this sphere for a number of years, so I think that I have acquired a valued experience... plus, I hope I have something new to offer".

The challenge will be that of harnessing and coordinating the effort of civil society vis-à-vis the EU, he said, describing lack of synchronisation as something of a post-accession syndrome. "My mandate in particular is to harness all the different energies, primarily for civil society to own the process of accession in the sense that it is not only the government to be doing the business..."

Asked to comment on the potential conflict with the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development, which has now established itself as the main consultative body in the country, Dr Xuereb said he looks at the MCESD as a model to learn from. "The MCESD focuses very much on the local issues, at Meusac we're going to do very similar work but vis-à-vis the European Union," he said.