The head of the European Parliament Office in Malta has politely told the Prime Minister that the electoral commission is denying a basic political right to EU citizens and called on Lawrence Gonzi to remedy the situation.

In a letter yesterday to Dr Gonzi, EP Malta office head Julian Vassallo referred to June’s EP elections and pointed out to Dr Gonzi that under European law non-Maltese EU citizens resident in Malta had the right to participate in those elections.

He then went on to refer to the electoral commission decision to require non-Maltese citizens who were registered for the 2004 European Parliament elections to re-register for the 2009 elections. “The same has not been required of Maltese citizens,” Dr Vassallo wrote.

He then went on to quote Article 9(4) of Council Directive 93/109/EC of 6 December 1993, saying it was difficult to reconcile the commission’s decision to require re-registration and the decision to differentiate in such a manner between Maltese and non-Maltese citizens.

Article 9(4) reads: “Community voters who have been entered on the electoral roll shall remain thereon, under the same conditions as voters who are nationals, until such time as they request to be removed or until such time as they are removed automatically because they no longer satisfy the requirements for exercising the right to vote.”

Dr Vassallo wrote that in view “of the above I call upon you to do all that is in your power to ensure that no EU citizen resident in Malta willing and able to vote is incorrectly denied this basic political right”.