From sixth seat hopeful to ‘phantom MEP’

Titled Maltese “Phantom” MEP Gets Impatient, an influential Brussels-based newspaper pens a sarcastic article about Joseph Cuschieri’s appeals in his determination to push his cause as Malta’s sixth member of the European Parliament.

The European Voice mocked his latest outburst that came in the form of a letter to the Prime Minister urging him to pressure Greece into ratifying the Lisbon Treaty (providing for the sixth seat) during Thursday’s extraordinary EU summit on the debt crisis.

Earlier this month, Mr Cuschieri issued a statement saying Malta should not contribute towards Greece’s second bailout if it did not ratify the protocol necessary for him to join his three fellow Labour MEPs in Brussels.

Under the main headline The Phantom Menace, the European Voice writes that the former Labour MP from St Julians was becoming impatient and felt Greece should get its priorities right.

The newspaper wrote: “With the fate of the eurozone hanging in the balance, setting the EU’s priorities is especially important... Joseph Cuschieri certainly thinks that way. He is impatient to become Malta’s sixth MEP but there will be a sixth only once all member states have ratified a treaty protocol that will add 18 MEPs to the European Parliament’s ranks, taking it from 736 to 754.”

Highlighting the fact that, with just five MEPs, Malta was already one of the most over-represented member states in the EP, it wrote: “Cuschieri is so concerned that the Maltese are under-represented (only one MEP per 64,482 voters) that he suggested Malta should not have given its support to a second Greek bailout without first getting assurances about regulating the status of the ‘phantom’ MEPs.”

It quoted Mr Cuschieri saying Malta would be contributing to the second Greek bailout when Greece was one of five member states dragging their feet. “What could the Greeks be thinking about instead,” the newspaper asked.

Mr Cuschieri’s latest suggestions, issued in a press release by the Labour Party, is also ruffling feathers within the EP’s Socialist Group, the second largest political grouping in the Brussels Chamber.

Sulvana Rapti, a leading Greek MEP in the Socialist Group, said she was satisfied the Labour leader had distanced himself from Mr Cuschieri’s comments. “I wouldn’t like to comment further on Mr Cuschieri’s suggestions but I am happy with the position taken by the Maltese Labour Party,” she said.

Speaking informally with The Times, other Greek Socialist MEPs described Mr Cuschieri’s latest declaration as “taking the issue a bit too far”.

“With all due respect, it’s ridiculous to compare the importance of a Greek bailout with a Maltese seat in the EP,” a Greek MEP from the governing Socialist Party said.

Earlier this year, Socialist Group leader Martin Schultz commented on Mr Cuschieri’s position after it was suggested in the press that it was Mr Schultz who was holding Mr Cuschieri from joining the EP, at least as an observer.

Mr Schultz had said he had personally explained the situation to Mr Cuschieri many times and was keeping him informed via e-mail on the progress within Parliament’s bureau on the issue.

Denying press reports that he was causing problems for Mr Cuschieri’s entry into the EP, Mr Schultz said he was “in favour of increasing the number of MEPs by 18, which would give Malta its sixth seat”.

Mr Cuschieri had resigned as an MP in 2008 to allow freshly elected Labour leader Joseph Muscat to be co-opted into Parliament.

He has embarked on a campaign to pressure member states to ratify the protocol allowing him to become an MEP, with continuous correspondence with EU governments, the EP and the Socialist Group. Two years since the last MEP elections, there is still no date as to when the protocol can be ratified by all member states.

Malta was the first member state to ratify the protocol. However, Greece, Belgium – which has been without a federal government for the past year – and the UK still have to give their approval. France and Romania have ratified it but not yet deposited the document in Rome, as they are required to do.