A proposal to have 25 new MEPs elected to the European Parliament as from 2014 is proving to be unpopular among MEPs, with a crucial vote postponed to avoid a likely defeat.

The proposal was moved by liberal British MEP Andrew Duff in a report on electoral reforms aimed at improving the participation of EU citizens in MEP elections. It introduces the concept of an EU-wide constituency from which the 25 new MEPs would be elected, as opposed to electing them from individual member states.

All EU citizens would be able to vote for these MEPs, with political parties listing candidates from at least a third of EU member states.

According to Mr Duff, the proposal would not work against small member states like Malta despite the fact that candidates from large member states would have a much better chance of getting elected.

However, the idea has not gathered enough support and will be sent back to the Constitutional Committee of the EP for further refining. In order to introduce these changes in the MEP elections, member states will also have to give their consent – something which many observers see as highly unlikely.

“The vote will now be postponed until the autumn. The reason is that I want to try and secure a majority in Parliament in favour of my proposals. As it stands, the vote would have been very tight,” Mr Duff admitted.

The Duff report also includes recommendations to bring the election date forward from June to May to allow for the earlier election of a new European Commission and to modernise the protocol of privileges and immunities of MEPs.

It also recommends apportioning seats within Parliament to take account of enlargement and demographic change, possibly according to a mathematical formula, and encourages EU citizens resident in other member states to participate in European elections.

Although Mr Duff is suggesting that seats in the EP should be re-distributed, he insisted that Malta would still be able to keep its six seats acquired through the Lisbon Treaty, as the minimum threshold established in the EU Treaty would be retained.

Under the current “Lisbon” system, Malta is the most over represented member state in the EP, with each Maltese MEP representing just 66,000 citizens. On the other hand, a German MEP represents more than 800,000 citizens or twice Malta’s population.

During the last MEP elections in 2009, Malta registered the highest participation rate among those member states where voting was not obligatory.

While on average only 43 per cent bothered to vote in the 27 member states, Malta’s turnout stood at 78.8 per cent.