Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1037099
19 LETTERS & EDITORIAL maltatoday | SUNDAY • 7 OCTOBER 2018 Setting record straight on EP office MALTATODAY'S article "MEP can- didate says suggestion he 'controls' EP office in Malta is nonsense" cites com- ments about the European Parliament Information Office in Malta by Mr Alex Saliba, described in this piece as a Labour candidate for MEP, expressing doubts in his It-Torċa newspaper col- umn about the role of the EP Office in Malta in the context of the EP delega- tions that visited Malta last week. I'm writing to set the record straight about what the EP Office is and does. First off, it's good to establish that the Offices represent the European Parliament as a whole, and there are European Parliament offices in all the EU Member States. Our aim is to make the EP's work visible and closer to Eu- ropean citizens including us Maltese. We strive to do this by providing cen- tre stage to citizens and their elected representatives impartially and in a consistent manner throughout Europe, in fact the Offices act on the basis of a mission statement established by one the European Parliament's decision- making bodies - the Bureau - that is made up of elected MEPs. On the basis of this, when the Euro- pean Parliament decides to send dele- gations of MEPs to EU Member States, all the EP's Offices also provide support to the visits of these Parliamentary delegations with a view to facilitate contacts with relevant stakeholders, on national/regional level, and to pro- mote their visibility in the media. The EP delegations from the Civil Liberties Committee that visited Malta last week were two such official Parliamentary delegations. One of them visited Slo- vakia before visiting Malta, where their visit was handled in the same way. The European Parliament's Com- mittees have an established system in setting their programmes for such visits, in the same way that Committee agendas are set - and this is done by the coordinators of the political groups. The Offices are not involved and have no scope to be involved in establishing the visit programme as set by elected MEPs from around this European Un- ion of ours. Mr Saliba is reported in the Malta- Today article as saying that the Of- fice's role should be to primarily act as a bridge between this directly elected Institution and Malta. Indeed, and again based on the mission statement, European Parliament Offices are the European Parliament's contact point for citizens in the Member States, with a mission to engage with the lo- cal population and increase awareness about what the European Parliament is, what it does and what it stands for. The ultimate goal being to convince and en- able citizens to engage in the European democratic process. The European Parliament Office in Malta is doing this in many different ways, just this year with public discus- sions ranging from the gender pay gap, to freedom of expression, to women's participation in politics and the media, to issues faced by the Gozitan youths, and the future of Europe. This week we are launching a series of six events with each of our elected MEPs on legislation in the making that will impact us as part of the EU, kicking off with a public stakeholder consulta- tion on fairness and transparency for business users of online services and following up with the emissions reduc- tions report that will be voted in Ple- nary next week. Maltese MEPs have a frontline role as rapporteurs in important pieces of leg- islation that will impact our lives and these discussions will help us Maltese citizens be aware of and have our say in what is decided by our representatives in Brussels. We invite Mr Saliba and all readers to come and participate in such discus- sions. The EP Office in Malta will continue to work so that citizens feel truly a part of Europe and particularly the institu- tion that is their direct voice, the Euro- pean Parliament. Anna Zammit Vella Acting Head European Parliament Office in Malta Mikiel Galea Letters & Clarifications