Maltese nationals living in Luxembourg

Air Malta will be offering special terms for a direct flight from Luxembourg to Malta to make it easier for Maltese voters living and working in that country to come over and exercise their right to choose their MEPs on Saturday.

While praising the Air Malta initiative, I must take the opportunity to air my views on the plight of the Maltese who work for the European institutions in Luxembourg. There is no direct flight from here to there for the larger part of the year. This means that the Maltese who live there and wish to visit Malta, have to take long journeys - either around two hours to get to Brussels, or else four hours to get to Frankfurt. Once there, they have a three-hour flight to get to Malta. The situation becomes worse for Gozitans, who then have a further couple of hours or so to get from Malta to Gozo. For a Maltese living in Luxembourg it can take up to eight hours to get to Malta - for a Gozitan up to 10 hours! All this in the 21st century!

Needless to say, the same hassle applies for relatives of these Maltese and Gozitans who wish to visit them in Luxembourg.

I take a very serious view of this matter. I believe that the Maltese who live in Luxembourg should have the possibility to maintain proper contacts with Malta without undue hassle. I therefore pledge to do my utmost once I'm elected MEP, to ease the difficulties faced by the Maltese working in Luxembourg.

If need be, we can discuss the problem with the Sicilians, who face similar problems, and try to solve the problem together with them.

I shall be the Workers' Voice in Europe - including those Maltese who work in Luxembourg.