In a statement issued by the MLP delegation in the European Parliament, the MEPs said that the PES Group unanimously voted against Mr Barroso’s proposed team.

The MEPs claimed that up till yesterday morning, a total of 363 MEPs were to vote against the proposed commission while only a minority of 345 were set to accept.

They claimed that the fact that Mr Barroso requested a delay for the decision showed that various groups within the parliament were going to vote against the proposal.

John Attard Montalto, Louis Grech and Joseph Muscat said that certain factions in Malta were trying to turn issues into religious ones, when it was not the case to do so.

The MLP delegation said it was satisfying to note that yesterday, the European Parliament and the PES won.

“The European Parliament yesterday showed that it is not there to simply rubber stamp decisions taken by other European institutions,” said the MLP delegation.