European socialist MEPs to hold group meeting in Malta in September

The Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) will be holding a unique Group meeting in Malta this September, Labour Party MEP Cyrus Engerer confirmed this morning.

“It will be an honour to host our colleagues. I’m glad that following our work, the Progressives have confirmed a group meeting outside of the European Parliament, and we will be holding our meeting in Malta hosted by PL Malta in September,” Engerer said.

Speaking to MaltaToday, Engerer explained that while there is no particular theme for the meeting, S&D President Iratxe Garcia Perez, in a Group meeting earlier on Wednesday, said that “it will be great to support the progressive work done by the Maltese government.”

The S&D Group usually conducts its business from within the confines of the European Parliament, but they are held elsewhere from time to time.

Engerer explained how the choice of Malta for the September meeting had come about after multiple invitations had been made by both Prime Minister Robert Abela during the recent rule of law debate he held at the European Parliament, by Engerer during S&D working group meetings, as well as by the Labour Party’s delegation to the European Parliament during heads of delegations meetings.

Back in March, Prime Minister Abela had also invited European Parliament President David Maria Sassoli and the leaders of the EP’s political groups to visit Malta “so that they may witness first-hand these unprecedented changes and reforms that Malta has introduced and implemented which clearly demonstrate Malta’s commitment to the rule of law.”