The people elected to the European Parliament should not act as the government’s “fan club” but should be objective on issues, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said on Monday, repeating his appeal for all the Maltese MEPs to work together.

The four Labour candidates elected to the European Parliament were a good mix of experience and new energy, he said.

During a meeting with the four – Miriam Dalli, Alfred Sant, Josianne Cutajar and Alex Agius Saliba – he also noted with satisfaction the fact that there was equal representation of the sexes and that there was also a Gozitan.

He said that he would soon start to consider who to nominate as a European Commission, saying that this would be done with the “best national interest foremost in his mind”.

The proposal is currently for each prime minister of the member states to nominate two candidates with the new European Commission president to make the final choice.

Dr Muscat said that this proposal is still being discussed and that the nominations would only be made once the procedure is finalised.