Muscat quits European Parliament today

Labour leader Joseph Muscat will today end his four-year stint as an MEP in order to take his seat as a member of the House of Representatives in Malta and assume his role as Leader of the Opposition next week.

Dr Muscat is scheduled to meet the president of the European Parliament Hans-Gert Pottering in Brussels this afternoon to officially inform him of his decision to relinquish his seat as it will become incompatible with his new role as a member of the Maltese Parliament.

According to the European Parliament statute, an MEP cannot be a member of his national Parliament and will have to vacate his seat immediately this happens. According to the rules, if this is not done, the MEP's seat will automatically be made vacant after five working days of one becoming a member of a national Parliament.

Dr Muscat's resignation letter will be handed to Mr Pottering following today's vote at the European Parliament Plenary in Brussels on a report Dr Muscat has drawn up about a Commission proposal to amend the EU's VAT directive. The debate, in which Dr Muscat spoke for the last time as an MEP, was held late yesterday evening.

Dr Muscat's resignation will now kick-start the process of his co-option to Malta's Parliament. He is expected to fill the seat that will become vacant on the resignation of Labour MP Joseph Cuschieri. Mr Cuschieri has decided to give up his parliamentary seat to allow Dr Muscat to become Leader of the Opposition.

Asked by The Times yesterday whether Mr Cuschieri will be compensated for his gesture, Dr Muscat said he was helping the St Julians MP to find a suitable job and didn't exclude the eventual possibility of Mr Cuschieri being employed with the Labour Party in one if its entities. However, Dr Muscat ruled out that Mr Cuschieri was also being given a financial reward.

President Eddie Fenech Adami is expected to shortly issue a writ for the holding of a casual election to fill Dr Muscat's seat as an MEP.

Former Super 1 journalist Glenn Beddingfield and veteran MP Joe Debono Grech are front runners to win this seat for the remaining nine months of the European Parliament's legislature. Fresh elections are scheduled for next June 6.