The European Parliament Office has called on the Prime Minister to do everything in his power to ensure that no EU citizens residing in Malta are "incorrectly" denied their basic political right to vote.

In a letter to Lawrence Gonzi yesterday, its head, Julian Vassallo, referred to the Electoral Commission's decision that required non-Maltese citizens, who were registered for the 2004 EP elections, to register again for the upcoming ones.

Those who did not - 960 voters - were struck off the register but the same has not been required of Maltese, Dr Vassallo pointed out, stressing the right under European law of non-Maltese EU citizens resident in Malta to participate in the June elections.

"It is difficult to reconcile both the decision to require re-registration and to differentiate between Maltese and non-Maltese citizens," Dr Vassallo said, quoting a 1993 Council Directive.

This directive lays down that community voters, who have been entered on the electoral roll, will remain on it under the same conditions as voters who are nationals, until they request to be removed, or are removed automatically because they no longer satisfy the requirements for exercising the right to vote.

Amand Veranneman-Van Hoeck and his wife, who have lived in Għarb, Gozo, for 28 years, are among the 960 voters.

He said he was never notified about the need to register again and now did so "with much trouble".

The couple received a notice on Saturday, informing them they had been removed from the register and would have to apply to get back on the list.

On Monday, Mr Veranneman-Van Hoeck went to the electoral office in Gozo, only to find that nobody knew what to do.

"They had to fax the application to Malta and he had to wait 45 minutes until it was sent back. Then he had to come back home for his Belgian passport," his wife, Marie-Jeanne, said.

She said she was shocked to find out the couple had been struck off the list to exercise their right as Europeans: "I never expected it!"

Ms Veranneman-Van Hoeck is not looking forward to going to the commission's office today to try and get her own name back on the register. "We have voted in local council elections before. I don't know why this was done," she said.

German Maria Elisabetha Borg Cardona, who has lived in Malta for the past 45 years, said she was extremely frustrated at having been struck off the register.

"My first reaction was that the Maltese did not want us here - why else would they do this to us," Ms Borg Cardona, from Baħar iċ-Ċagħaq, said.

This was the first time she was going to vote in an MEP election since she only got dual citizenship last year. The 74-year-old had enquired whether she would be able to vote and was assured she was on the register.

It was only when she started reading the newspapers that Ms Borg Cardona realised she might also have been struck off it.

"The government never informed me that I was not on the register," she said, adding that she was determined to vote.

Her 44-year-old daughter, who was born in Malta, has also been struck off the register.

The Electoral Commissioner was not available for comment.