The European Parliament has asked the European Commission for information on whether the proposed new bus fares system in Malta would be discriminatory and in breach of EU law.
The request comes four months before the introduction of a new public transport system in Malta, which will charge different fares for locals and non-residents.
According to a Commission official, Brussels is still not in a position to give a clear answer over whether Malta could retain the planned tariffs system. The issue was raised by British Labour MEP Linda McAvon.
Ms McAvon said under the new Arriva price structure, tourists, including EU citizens, would be forced to pay much higher fares than residents to use public transport.
She asked the Commission to say what stage investigation into the issue had reached and whether the Maltese authorities would be asked to change their planned policy.
Nationalist MEP Simon Busuttil had suggested the government should rethink the fares structure as EU jurisprudence did not support differentiating between residents and tourists.
On the other hand, the government insisted the new bus fares were not discriminatory because the difference was based on residence and not nationality, something the EU Treaty allowed.
According to the government, all EU residents in Malta, independent of nationality, can benefit from local tariffs if they are in possession of a Maltese ID card while the rest have to pay about 40 per cent more.
EU sources had said it would be difficult for Malta to justify the difference and remain in line with current jurisprudence.
A judgment by the European Court of Justice in January 2003 in a case started by the Commission against the Italian government and which is very similar to the Maltese transport case, may have set a precedent.
The case was about preferential rates to elderly Italian residents (non-nationals) aged 60 to 65 years for admission into museums in Venice, Treviso and Padua while other EU non-residents in Italy were being charged extra.The ECJ had ruled that discriminatory treatment with respect to admission to museums that impacted foreign tourists who are EU citizens was prohibited because it breached the EU Treaty.
Just as the Maltese authorities are arguing now to justify the different fare structure, the Italian government had also maintained that, since Italian residents paid taxes, it was only fair for them to benefit from subsidies.
The ECJ had dismissed this argument stating there was no direct link between the taxes paid by the residents and the preferential rates for admission to museums.