Members of the European Parliament yesterday adopted a report on the new allocation of seats in the European Parliament at the next legislative elections in 2009, which will see Malta allocated one more seat – bringing the complement of Maltese MEPs up to six.

At present, Malta has five seats currently held by three MLP MEPs, Joe Muscat, John Attard Montalto and Louis Grech, and two from the PN, Simon Busuttil and David Casa.

The report, which was proposed by co-rapporteurs Alain Lamassoure (EPP-ED) and Adrian Severin (PES) will see a revision of distribution of seats for the 2009-2014 parliamentary term. The report was adopted with 378 votes in favour, 154 against and 109 abstentions.

The allocation of seats approved follows the rules established by the June 2007 European Council, which invited the European Parliament to present a proposal by October this year. The Council stipulated that the EP is limited to a total of 750 seats and that no member state should have more than 96 seats or less than six. Finally, it also says that the distribution should respect the “degressive proportionality” principle.

The European Parliament proposes that “degressive proportionality” means that bigger member states agree to accept fewer seats than they would receive if the total were divided according to population size, so as to allow for better representation of less-densely populated states. The two co-rapporteurs based their proposal on the EUROSTAT figures for the number of residents in each member state, as approved by the Council.

Italian MEP Luca Romagnoli was one of the critics of the report and said that the report “should be rejected with scorn as it ignored many facts”. Italy, he said, had contributed greatly to the development of the EU. “Why for example should Malta and Estonia have the same number of MEPs (six) even though Estonia’s population is three times bigger?”

Meanwhile, MEPs Busuttil and Casa expressed surprise and disbelief at comments made by Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi on the distribution of seats in the European Parliament. They said that Mr Prodi ought to check his facts before speaking.

Mr Prodi was quoted in the Italian media (Il Giornale, 11 October issue) as strongly objecting to the distribution of seats in the European Parliament proposed by MEPs Lamassoure and Severin adopted in the Brussels plenary.

The Italian Prime Minister, who was President of the EU Commission when Malta joined the EU in 2004, was quoted as stating “And what about Malta! Six MEPs like Slovenia! How can this be?” He went on to say that the Reform Treaty could go ahead even without an agreement on the distribution of seats.

Reacting to Mr Prodi’s comments, Dr Busuttil and Mr Casa expressed surprise and disbelief, pointing out that Mr Prodi had got his facts wrong on at least three counts.

They said that the new Reform Treaty, supported by Mr Prodi himself, already stipulated a minimum threshold of six seats per member state, thereby taking Malta from its current five seats to six. Moreover this provision in the Treaty was taken over from the text of the European Constitution, also supported by Mr Prodi both as Italian Prime Minister as well as the then President of the European Commission. “Malta’s six seats are already in the Reform Treaty and the European Constitution, both of which establish a minimum threshold of six seats,” the MEPs noted.

“He is also wrong on Slovenia, which was allocated eight seats, not six, and is therefore not on the same level as Malta,” they said.

The MEPs also expressed surprise that Mr Prodi did not seem to be aware that the entry into force of the Reform Treaty would automatically trigger a redistribution of seats on the European Parliament by limiting its total number of seats to 750 and imposing a minimum threshold of six seats and a maximum threshold of 96 seats.

“How could this treaty provision have escaped the attention of Professor Prodi?” they asked in disbelief.

The Maltese MEPs also called on the Italian MP of Maltese nationality, Arnold Cassola, to stand up to be counted. Prof. Cassola, a Maltese national of Italian descent, was elected to the Italian Parliament on the Prodi list with the Green Party on behalf of Italians living abroad.

“Prof. Cassola must stand up to be counted and disassociate himself from Mr Prodi in no uncertain terms. He must decide where his loyalties lie. With Malta or with Mr Prodi,” they said.

EU leaders want to reach a deal on the treaty in Lisbon and formally sign it at a summit in Brussels in December. The redistribution of parliamentary seats is one of the last unresolved issues.

The draft treaty sets the maximum number of EU parliamentarians at 750, down from 785, as of the next European elections in 2009. The plan adopted by the EU assembly would see Italy lose six seats, Britain five and France four.

Italy says this is disproportionate. Diplomats said Italy may demand the EU can revert to an earlier plan under which the EU assembly shrinks to 736 members and France, population 62.9 million, Britain, population 60.4 million, and Italy, population 58.8 million, all lose the same number of seats. Currently Italy, France and Britain all have 78 seats. Germany has the largest number of members – 99 – and its allotment would shrink to 96, the maximum number of seats allowed for a single country under the plan to be discussed in Lisbon. The new EU treaty will amend the current household rules – the 2003 Nice Treaty – governing the EU.

Following is the current allocation of national seats followed by the numbers for 2009-2014 in parentheses: Germany, 99 (96) – France, 78 (74) – Britain, 78 (73) – Italy, 78 (72) – Spain, 54 (54) – Poland, 54 (51) – Romania, 35 (33) – Netherlands, 27 (26) – Belgium, 24 (22) – Czech Republic, 24 (22) – Greece, 24 (22) – Hungary, 24 (22) – Portugal, 24 (22) – Sweden, 19 (20) – Austria, 18 (19) – Bulgaria, 18 (18) – Finland, 14 (13) – Denmark, 14 (13) – Slovakia, 14, (13) – Ireland, 13 (12) – Lithuania, 13 (12) – Latvia, 9 (9) – Slovenia, 7 (8) – Cyprus, 6 (6) – Estonia, 6 (6) – Luxembourg, 6 (6) – Malta, 5 (6).