Malta has been mentioned among countries whose diplomats are failing to pay traffic fines in Brussels.

However a spokesman for the Ministry for European Affairs said only five fines had been pending, and they have been paid.

Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders, replying to a parliamentary question reported on Belgian media, said that over the past three years, the Foreign Office was informed of 971 cases of unpaid fines related to parking tickets or other traffic offences by diplomats of various countries. This, he said, was an abuse of the Vienna treaty on Diplomatic Relations.

The worst offenders among the ‘traditional’ country embassies were Saudi Arabia and India. Turkish diplomats were the worst among the Permanent Representatives to NATO.

As to the European institutions in Brussels, the Permanent Representatives of Greece, Germany, Hungary, Malta, Slovenia and Cyprus had received warnings.

A spokesman for the Ministry of European Affairs said that weeks before issuing of the Note Verbale to all missions and Embassies, the Belgian Foreign Ministry informed Malta's Permanent Representation in Brussels that its officials had five pending fines. The Permanent Representative drew the attention of the officers concerned and immediate action was taken. All fines were paid immediately by all concerned.

"It is relevant to stress that the Maltese authorities never received a Note Verbale pinpointing at Malta. The Note Verbale sent in November, (and thus after the payment of all fines) was in fact sent to all missions and Embassies," the spokesman said.

 Malta currently has no fines pending.