The European Parliament's Constitutional Affairs Committee is expected to carry out the changes needed for 18 new MEPs to finally take their seats, according to the EP Office in Malta.
The office was reacting to comments by Labour MEP-in-waiting Joseph Cuschieri's in The Sunday Times and in which he expressed frustration about his inability to take up his seat in the EP after being elected in June.
A disillusioned Mr Cuschieri even accused his own party, together with the government of doing nothing to push for Malta to take up its sixth seat.
The head of the EP Office in Malta, Julian Vassallo, said his position was "entirely understandable" but added that the EP was pressing ahead with changes to take in new MEPs.
The Constitutional Affairs Committee will handle the issue in two reports, summing up the Parliament's position, and the vote on them is expected at committee level on April 7 and in plenary later in the spring.
Dr Vassallo said the move followed a December proposal by the Spanish government to change the Lisbon Treaty so that the extra EP seats from 12 member states could be filled.
Before the elections, the EP Office had insisted that provision be made for the method of election of Malta's sixth MEP. This was also the case in the other member states eligible for additional MEPs, with the exception of France, creating problems.
"Some in the EP are now opposing France's idea of simply nominating two members of the French National Assembly as additional MEPs. Some democratically-elected MEPs are not satisfied to sit alongside others who have simply been nominated by their national Parliament," Dr Vassallo explained.
Even following the EP's eventual thumbs up to the amendments to the treaty, further delays could arise because a change would need to be ratified by all member states in accordance with their respective constitutional requirements, in most cases involving national parliamentary ratification, Dr Vassallo said.
"This is the result of the fact that, although we are 27 countries, tightly bound in the EU, when it comes to changing treaties we are unfortunately still operating under international law rules that apply to countries as unconnected as Malta and Tonga."
Dr Vassallo said it would not be surprising if those countries that did not stand to gain MEPs would not treat ratification with the urgency it deserved.
Meanwhile, the EP, which has a strong interest to move ahead with the treaty changes, had already amended its rules of procedure in November 2009 so Mr Cuschieri and other new MEPs may take observer status until the modifications to the Lisbon Treaty enter into force.
"Observer status could come in 2010 and, even if this will not give Malta another vote, it will at least give us another voice and pair of ears in the EP," Dr Vassallo said.
Mr Cuschieri thinks he could be granted observer status by May, becoming a full MEP by December.
After giving up his seat in Parliament for the Labour leader's co-option in 2008, Mr Cuschieri went on to contest the MEP election, clinching Malta's sixth seat.
Eager to start working as an MEP, he is seeing the delay as a missed opportunity. "I feel I am being unjustly deprived of my right," he said.