Light at the end of the tunnel for Malta's MEP-in-waiting

Joseph Cuschieri, Labour's MEP-in-waiting, should obtain observer status by the summer but he may have to wait another couple of years before receiving his full €92,000 annual salary.

The European Parliament is on Thursday expected to approve a proposal for the EU treaty to be amended without the need for a convention. EU leaders are then expected to approve a protocol with the necessary changes in June.

This will shorten the bureaucratic and legislative procedures otherwise needed to allow the 18 MEPs to take up their seats as soon as possible.

"However, this does not mean the new MEPs can take their seats (in June). They will still have to wait for the protocol to be ratified by each and every member state - a process which might take up to two years," a senior European Parliament official said yesterday.

He was briefing journalists on the state of affairs regarding the 18 MEPs from 12 member states who according to the Lisbon Treaty should join the EP during the current legislature.

The official said that, after June's meeting, the EP President would invite member states to nominate them to join as observers until they could become fully-fledged MEPs when the protocol is finally ratified.

"As observers, the 18 MEPs will not have the right to vote although they can take part in debates and committee meetings. They will not receive a salary but will get some of the allowances," the official said.

The allowances have not been decided yet but would probably consist of travel and daily subsistence allowances, he said.

Apart from their annual salary, a sitting MEP receives allowances to be able to hire staff and offices as well as for their personal well-being, among others. These include all travel expenses covered at business class rates and a €300 daily subsistence allowance to cover accommodation and meals.

Malta acquired the right to increase the number of its EP seats by one during the negotiations held a few years ago on the new treaty. The island had insisted the minimum threshold of MEPs should rise to six seats from five and this was accepted by other member states.

During the MEP elections last June, it was decided the Maltese runner-up would take the sixth seat in Brussels when it became available.

In February, Labour's MEP-elect criticised the government and his own party for not doing anything to help him obtain his seat.