The battle for votes in the MEP election campaign keeps gearing up and all candidates take every opportunity to try to belittle their opponents in a bid to make inroads among the electorate.

The latest addition to this constant tit-for-tat comes from Nationalist candidate Peter Agius, who found what he says is a glaring mistake in a glossy and colourful booklet published by his Labour opponent Cyrus Engerer. Engerer, for his part, immediately replied via social media.

Agius said that in the booklet, Engerer says that it elected as MEP, he will form part of the committee that will be responsible for European funds, adding that its name is the Committee on Regional Development.

“But Cyrus, my friend, the committee that decides on European funds is the Committee on Budgets,” he said.

“Cyrus, if you need anything, just ask. I’m here. Just call me,” Agius said.

Engerer was quick to reply, saying that the REGI committee is the one that discusses and takes care of the way the cohesion and structural funds are used, and is the committee that is important in order to have a less bureaucratic "one size fits all"process, in terms of how structural funds allocated to Malta are accessed.

Engerer says that he met with the chairperson of the REGI committee a number of times over the years to discuss the way forward on the use of EU funds by Malta. He said that the BUDG committee is the one that allocates the amount of funds, not the committee that decides how the funds should be used. He said that Peter Agius has "become like the rest of the PN - using lies rather than facts,"

Peter Agius was the head of the European Parliament Information Office in Malta for a number of years, and left to work as a speechwriter for the European Parliament President Antonio Tajani in 2017. He is currently a Head of Unit in Tajani's Cabinet. He was also in charge of the negotiations in Council and part of the legal service between 2002 and 2012.

Engerer served as the Prime Minister's envoy to the European Union for several years.