[autom.vertaling] Geen consitutionstem voor Maltees (en)

EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Malta's Prime Minister Eddie Fenech said today (Friday 17 October) that Malta will not hold a referedum on the new European Constitution.

Speaking in Brussels, Mr Fenech Adami said that countries which are not constitutionally bound to hold referenda all agree, even if not publicly, that there should not be a referendum on the Constitution.

Speaking to journalists after a meeting of the EU's heads of state and government, Mr Fenech Adami said that it is "absolutely not necessary" in the case of Malta to hold a referendum on the future EU Constitution.

"Everybody realises that the whole question about Malta's membership in the EU, also in the stage that we are in now, was already dealt with in a referendum and it is therefore inconceivable that Malta holds a referendum [on the Constitution]", he said.

Malta is not constitutionally bound to hold referenda, but did so last March on the question of whether it should join the EU or not.

The result was a narrow majority of seven percent for the 'yes' side.

Malta, which also took part in the Intergovernmental Conference, is demanding six Members of the European Parliament, unlike the four proposed in the draft constitutional treaty, and is pushing, like most other small countries, to have its own Commissioner with voting rights.

Also, along with countries like Poland, the small island is pushing to have a reference to Christianity in the preamble of the Constitution.

Mr Fenech said he would continue to insist on this issue, and added that an ever increasing number of countries are also supporting its inclusion.