Maltese MEPS got off to a good start at the inaugural session of the European Parliament's seventh legislature, positioning themselves in influential roles on important committees.
Riding on the reputation of his work on immigration during the last legislature, Nationalist MEP Simon Busuttil was elected, almost unanimously, as the European People's Party (EPP) coordinator on the Civil Liberties Committee. This post is considered to be a highly sensitive political one whose holder wields a lot of influence on the work of this major committee.
The post was contested by two other MEPs, Spaniard Agustin Diaz de Nera, a former Police Commissioner in the Aznar government, and Carlos Coelgo, a Portuguese MEP. Dr Busuttil managed to win overwhelming support and was voted in by 27 of the 28 MEPs who cast their vote.
He will now be responsible for coordinating all the EPP positions in this committee and of acting as the spokesman for the largest political group in the European Chamber when it comes to civil liberties, fundamental rights and migration. He will also be responsible to assign among his colleagues all reports that have to be drawn up on the Commission's proposals in this area.
Visibly satisfied at being elected to this new role, Dr Busuttil said he felt honoured that an MEP from the smallest EU member state was given such a huge responsibility.
"Though this will mean more hard work and added responsibility, I will do my best to make sure that the EPP and Malta are well represented on all the dossiers that will be coming before this committee in the coming five years," he said.
The other MEP in the Nationalist delegation, David Casa, was assigned membership of the Committee of Employment and Social Affairs and will also be given the vice-presidency of one of 34 delegations the EP has with third countries.
The Labour delegation also managed to position itself well in the internal party horse-trading, which established who gets what position on the 20 EP committees.
Following days of intense negotiations, the leader of Labour's delegation, Louis Grech, managed to bring his delegation two vice presidencies of two important EP committees.
Mr Grech himself will be one of the vice-chairmen of the Internal Market and Consumer Protection Committee while economist Edward Scicluna, a new MEP, will be acting as one of the vice-chairmen of the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee.
The other Labour MEP, John Attard Montalto, was assigned to the Committee for Constitutional Affairs and will also be shadowing the Foreign Affairs Committee. The former Labour minister will also be appointed a vice-chairman of an inter-parliamentary committee.
"It wasn't easy to negotiate our positions within the Socialist group as every delegation has its own priorities," Mr Grech said. "However, I feel that, at the end of the day, we managed to get a very good package for the Maltese delegation," he said.
MEPs will start their committee work next week before Parliament rises for its summer recess.