The chairman of the European Peoples Party’s (EPP) parliamentary group Joseph Daul has welcomed the European Commission’s endorsement of Malta’s euro adoption bid – two days after the EPP economy and finance spokesperson cast a dark shadow of doubt on Malta’s euro aspirations.

Mr Daul’s praise, curiously, comes just after Member of European Parliament Alexander Radwan – who serves as the EPP’s spokesperson for the European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs – unleashed an attack against the Commission’s approval for Malta and Cyprus to adopt the euro on 1 January.

Malta’s Nationalist Party is itself a member of the Christian Democrat EPP.

The move could be interpreted as a pre-emptive gag against any future uncomfortable questions Mr Radwan might intend raising after he tabled the issue in the European Parliament on Tuesday – the day before the EC was to give Malta and Cyprus its nod of approval for euro adoption.

Speaking in the European Parliament, Mr Radwan questioned the accuracy of the fiscal data presented by Malta and asked why the country was being considered euro-worthy when its level of public debt had not been reduced to below 60 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) as required by the Maastricht Criteria.

Contacted this week, Mr Radwan insisted there is a “substantial need to clarify” the matters raised and deemed the Commission’s move “anti-democratic”.

He commented, “Firstly, given the past experiences with Greece and Hungary, we are questioning whether the Commission is sure the data supplied by Malta is accurate and we are asking the Commission to verify such data and provide a guarantee that it is correct.

“On the matter of Malta’s public debt not having dropped below the 60 per cent of GDP level as required by the Maastricht Criteria, we are seeing this as an instance of different criteria being applied for different member States.”

Mr Radwan also called the decision-making parameters of the European Commission into question, and asked on what basis the Commission recommended Malta’s eurozone entry when all the criteria had not been met.

Malta has been found to be in line with all the Maastricht Criteria, save for that of public debt, which is planned to fall below the 60 per cent of GDP threshold in 2009.

Furthermore, Mr Radwan said the fact that the Commission was to deliver a positive recommendation of Malta’s euro adoption bid to European finance ministers in June as “an affront against democracy” in that it leaves little time for the EP to formulate a statement on the issue.

“We will of course be asking the European Commission to follow up on these matters, which will also be discussed within the Committee,” Mr Radwan added.

The EC’s decision will need to be approved at the next meeting of European economy and finance ministers, again by the European Council, while another meeting of finance ministers will set the final and irrevocable exchange rate between the Maltese lira and the euro in July.

The European Parliament, however, has not been left out of the loop and it will also be consulted on the decision. The EP’s response and agreement will be needed before the July meeting.