2004 - 2009
Budget Committee
Louis Grech shakes hand with The President of the European Parliament Josep Borell Fontelles during the ceremony celebrating the signing of the EU's Budget for 2007.
In 2006 Grech was nominated and appointed (together with an English MEP belonging to the EPP) to determine the priorities of the European Budget and prepare a detailed Budget for 2007, for a total spend of around €126bn.
Read more...EU Budget
Right at the beginning of his mandate, Louis Grech started participating in discussions about the EU's Budget, where he insisted on:
- A Strategy for effective information distributed to MEPs.
- Investment in buildings and better conditions.
- Better utilisation of employees in the different departments of the Parliament.
- Supervision on the expenditure of the Parliament so that resources are utilised better.
- Formulation of financial perspectives for the budgetary period 2007-2013.
- The allocation of special funds for the creation of more jobs, higher economic growth, R&D, and social solidarity.
Illegal Immigration
Louis Grech’s work on illegal immigration during the past five years included:
Climate Change Fund
One of Louis Grech’s most recent initiatives was about climate change and how the EU can address the problem.
Waste Treatment
Jointly with Dr Joseph Muscat, Louis Grech organised meetings about the project for the Sant' Antnin Recycling Plant with the European Commissioner for the Envrionment, Stavros Dimas. Dr Muscat and Louis Grech insisted that there should be complete transparency on such projects and that the Commission should make it its job to ensure that no regulations are breached, and for this purpose submitted a detailed dossier on the matter.
Għadira Road
Louis Grech raised the issue of a new road in Għadira after various NGOs complained that this project, which forms part of the Trans-European Network, would intrude into a unique rural area that forms part of Foresta 2000.
Consumers
Vat on Car Registration
Way back in October 2007 Louis Grech started working so that justice would be done by Maltese consumers who had been made to pay, illegally, VAT on the car registration tax since 2004.
Response to the Economic Crisis
As Vice-President of the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee, Louis Grech is leading a committee that has assumed a crucial role in the context of the economic and financial crisis that has gripped the world, including the EU, and that needs to find answers as to how the Union can overcome this crisis.
