Nationalist MEPs have had to correct their votes 13 times in the past year, Labour leader Joseph Muscat said yesterday, serving the volley back to the PN which made a meal out of mistakes in the vote of Labour MEPs.
He said that 12 of these corrections were made by the PN's star candidate Simon Busuttil.
Dr Muscat was being questioned on the fact that two of his own MEPs messed up a crucial vote for Malta on whether EU member states should be obliged to share the illegal immigration burden.
The head of Labour's delegation, Louis Grech voted in favour, Glenn Bedingfield did not vote and John Attard Montalto voted against. The motion also dealt with a change in the Dublin II Convention so that immigrants can move freely around Europe without being sent back to their country of arrival.
After the vote, the PN asked for an explanation on why the three Labour MEPs voted in different ways. Mr Bedingfield said his voting machine did not work and Dr Attard Montalto claimed that he had pressed the wrong button.
They corrected their votes within the 24-hour timeframe allowed but the Nationalist party kept up its barrage on them for not being alert enough on such an important vote for Malta.
Yesterday Dr Muscat argued that Nationalist MEPs had made mistakes in the past when it came to voting at the European Parliament.
"I'd rather if no mistakes are made, but they do happen. It also bothers me when people do not turn up to vote," he said, referring to a voting session for the creation of an EU asylum agency which was missed by Dr Busuttil.
This proposal, by Louis Grech, had been defeated because the European People's Party voted against it, although the concept of an asylum agency has recently resurfaced with PN backing.
Reacting to Dr Muscat's comments, Dr Busuttil did not deny having corrected his votes but said he never made a mistake during a "crucial vote for Malta" such as that of burden-sharing or the working time directive.
He also said he was pleased that Dr Muscat had finally admitted that his MEPs made a mistake since his first reaction was to deny it.
In the last five years, the MEPs have had to vote using hand-held electronic machines around 5,000 times. The system is very different to that normally used in the Maltese Parliament, since voting is not carried out straight after a debate.
EU sources familiar with the voting system said that it can in fact be quite complex because during each voting session the European Parliament has to vote on a number of different and unrelated articles.
"It's not a nice and relaxed procedure. If you're not prepared it's easy to make a mistake."
Attempts to contact Dr Attard Montalto proved futile while Mr Beddingfield said he would answer questions via e-mail.
cperegin@timesofmalta.com