Nationalist Party leader Simon Busuttil, together with MEP Roberta Metsola and MPs Marthese Portelli and Ryan Callus, visited the European Parliament Information Office at Europe House in Valletta this morning and met with head of office Dr Peter Agius and members of staff.

In a brief address to the media Dr Busuttil spoke about the forthcoming European Parliament elections, which will be held on 22-25 May 2014. He said the PN will announce its first group of candidates for the European Parliament elections in the coming weeks, following an ongoing review by a purposely appointed commission.

"Next May's will be European Parliament elections with a difference, since we, as citizens, will not only be asked to choose our MEPs, but we will also be able to choose the next president of the European Commission," said Dr Busuttil, adding that European People's Party (EPP) will be organising an extraordinary summit for party leaders to have a discussion on the EPP candidate for Commission president.

This will be the first election in which Maltese citizens will choose six, instead of five, members of the European Parliament, and Dr Busuttil reiterated the Nationalist Party's political objective to elect three MEPs; he acknowledged that this is a difficult electoral challenge, but one that the party would face with a sense of determination.

Dr Agius said the European Parliament Information Office will be launching an information campaign on the 2014 European Parliament elections in September. The office has organised 17 public events over the past year and is planning other events that will focus on subjects of direct relevance to Maltese citizens, including data protection and irregular migration.

He explained: "Our aim as an office is to serve as a bridge between the European Parliament and Maltese citizens, and one of the best ways of doing this is by directly involving stakeholders in a variety of sectors."