PM sets July date for EU Constitution vote
Lawrence Gonzi said yesterday that the Parliament will debate the European Constitution and take a vote by mid-July, before the House rises for the summer recess.
The Prime Minister was speaking to the press after a meeting in Brussels with the president of the European Parliament, Josep Borell, with whom he discussed in detail the process of ratifying the Constitution in Malta.
He said he explained why the government had decided to postpone the parliamentary discussion by a few months: to give more time to the Labour Party to analyse the treaty and come up with a position. The government, he said, wanted the Constitution to be agreed on by both sides of the House.
Asked what would happen if the MLP still did not have a position by the time the resolution is debated in Parliament, the Prime Minister said the government could not wait forever because a decision would finally have to be made. However, the government felt the MLP will have been given enough time to come to a decision.
When asked, Mr Borell, who is also a Socialist MEP, declined to comment on the fact that the MLP has still not taken a stand on the issue, saying he did not want to interfere in its decision. "It is good that the MLP is having an internal debate and we hope for a positive outcome," he said.
Source:The Times (Malta)
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