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No extra seat for Malta in EU parliament

Malta did not get the extra EU parliamentary seat it was asking for at the close of the EU summit in Laeken, Belgium yesterday but it was confirmed to be among the top 10 candidate countries due to make it in the first enlargement.

The summit’s concluding document said that Malta had made a lot of progress in the negotiating process and if the same momentum is maintained negotiations are expected to finish by the end of next year.

The Maltese delegation present in Laeken, which included the Prime Minister Eddie Fenech Adami, was lobbying hard for Malta to be given one more parliamentary seat to make a total of six. However, the request for an extra seat by Malta, the Czech Republic and Hungary was turned down. Malta has five EU parliamentary seats, one less than Luxembourg.

The agenda at Laeken was dominated by the launch of a convention to debate the EU’s own future. Candidate countries including Malta will form part of this convention although they will not have voting rights.

The summit at Laeken characterised the closing of the Belgian presidency, which will be handed over to Spain in January.