European Commissioner John Dalli said today that he is closely following the House Business Committee discussion on an opposition motion censuring Richard Cachia Caruana over meetings he held in 2004.

The Opposition claims that Mr Cachia Caruana had been side-lining parliament and discussing ways to get Malta back into Partnership for Peace. The government denies the claims, saying PfP membership was not discussed and the talks were authorised by the Cabinet and focused on access for Malta to Nato security documents.

Questioned this morning, Mr Dalli, who was foreign minister in the first part of 2004, said he is doing some research to refresh his memory of what took place in 2004 (Most of the meetings were in the second half of 2004).

Asked whether, as a member of the Cabinet, he knew about Mr Cachia Caruana's meetings, Mr Dalli said he could not comment.