MEP-in-waiting Joseph Cuschieri in a statement today welcomed the Maltese Parliament's unanimous ratification of an agreement for the addition of seats in the European Parliament including the sixth seat for Malta which he is entitled to take up.

Mr Cuschieri regretted, however, that despite the political agreement reached in 2008, the ratification process within the EU was far from concluded and he could not therefore become an MEP.

The European Parliament, he said, was demonstrating huge bureaucracy.

"The fourth seat won by the Labour candidates, and the sixth seat allocated to Malta are still a dream," Mr Cuschieri complained.

He said that 18 months after winning his right to a seat in the European Parliament, he was still being denied the opportunity to work on the programme he was elected on, and to be the voice of Maltese workers in the EP.

He urged the government and the Labour Party to continue their efforts to push the process for conclusion as quickly as possible.

"It is no longer acceptable that what Malta has a right for it still being denied to its people," he said.

He said that the countries which still had to ratify the process and had issues on who to send to the EP could nominate temporary observers until they resolved their own problems.