Labour MEP-in-waiting Joseph Cuschieri will finally have his dream come true as he will take his seat in the European Parliament, most probably next month.
The ratification process of a protocol through which the Brussels Chamber will welcome 18 new MEPs under the Lisbon Treaty should be finalised by the end of this month and the new members “will probably” be able to join, as early as December.
The last to ratify the protocol was the Belgian Assembly.
Malta’s long-awaited sixth seat is the direct result of successful negotiations on the Lisbon Treaty when the island argued for the establishment of a new minimum threshold of six MEPs. Malta has the smallest MEP delegation, five. Luxembourg, with the same population as Malta, has six representatives.
With the additional seat, Malta will be at par with other small member states including Cyprus and Estonia, even if these have bigger populations than Malta.
The Lisbon Treaty also allocates four additional seats to Spain, two more to France, Austria and Sweden and an additional one to Bulgaria, Italy, Latvia, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovenia and the UK.
Although the new seating arrangement was originally meant to enter into force from the beginning of this legislature, in July 2009, it took the 27 member states almost two-and-a-half years to conclude the ratification of the protocol, which was a pre-requisite for the new provisions of the Treaty to become law.
This long process has led Mr Cuschieri – who in the last MEP elections ended up as runner-up – to embark on a massive lobbying campaign with MEPs, political groups in the EP and the governments of member state to pressure them to ratify the protocol.
His intense campaign included some political skirmishes, particularly with the leader of the Socialist Group in the EP, Martin Schultz who was accused of not helping his cause. He also had a bit of a run in with public opinion when he suggested that the Maltese government should veto the Greek bailout until that country’s government ratified the protocol.
Mr Cuschieri had also vented his frustration at members of his own party, particularly MEPs, whom he had accused of not pulling their weight to lobby on his behalf.
Mr Cuschieri had contested the last MEP election on the Labour ticket after resigning his seat in Parliament to make way for Joseph Muscat, himself a former MEP, to be co-opted after he was elected party leader. Since then, Mr Cuschieri had been given a job at the Labour headquarters.
Upon taking his MEP seat, Mr Cuschieri will become eligible for a €400,000 annual financial package including an €80,000 salary and funds for employing staff, opening up offices and travel allowances.
Mr Cuschieri will boost the Labour delegation in Brussels to four as against the Nationalist Party’s two.