Joseph Muscat

Infobox_Politician
name = Joseph Muscat


imagesize =
order3 = Leader of the Labour Party
deputy3 = Angelo Farrugia
term_start3 = 06 June 2008
term_end3 =
predecessor3 = Alfred Sant
successor3 =
order4 = Member of the European Parliament
term_start4 = 12 June 2004
term_end4 = 25 September 2008
predecessor4= "New Constituency"
successor4 =
majority4 = 36,958
order = Malta's Leader of the Opposition
term_start = 01 October 2008
term_end =
predecessor = Charles Mangion
successor=
order2 = Member of Parliament
term_start2 = 01 October 2008
term_end2 =
predecessor2 = Joseph Cuschieri
successor2=
birth_date = birth date and age|1974|01|22|df=y
birth_place = Pietà, Malta
nationality = Maltese
death_date =
death_place =
party = Partit Laburista
religion = Roman Catholic
spouse = Michelle née Tanti
children = Etoile Ella
Soleil Sophie
residence = Burmarrad (San Pawl il-Bahar)
profession = Economist


website = [http://www.josephmuscat.com/ www.josephmuscat.com]
[http://www.mlp.org.mt/ www.mlp.org.mt]

Joseph Muscat (born January 22, 1974) is Maltese politician, leader of the Malta Labour Party and He is currently Leader of the Opposition in the House of Representatives of Malta.

Eduction

Muscat graduated Bachelor of Commerce in Management and Public Policy from the (University of Malta, 1995), Bachelor of Arts with Honours in Public Policy (University of Malta, 1996), Master of Arts in European Studies (University of Malta, 1997) and Ph.D in Management Research (University of Bristol, 2007).

Journalism

Muscat worked as a journalist with Party's radio station, Super One Radio. He later took on a similar role at Super One TV. [http://www.one.com.mt] , becoming the station's assistant head of news in 1996. He was also editor of Party's online newspaper, maltastar.com [http://www.maltastar.com/] between 2001 and 2004.

Politics

Muscat was as a member of the youth section of the Malta Labour Party, the "Forum Żgħażagħ Laburisti" (the Labour Youth Forum) where he served as Financial Secretary (1994-97) and Acting Chairperson (1997). He later served as Education Secretary in the national executive of the Party (2001-2003) and Chairman of its Annual General Conference (November 2003). During the Labour government of 1996-98 he was a member of the National Commission for Fiscal Morality (1997-98).

In 2003 he was nominated to a working group led by George Vella and Evarist Bartolo on the Malta Labour Party's policies on the European Union. This working group produced the document "“Il-Partit Laburista u l-Unjoni Ewropea: Ghall-Gid tal-Maltin u l-Ghawdxin”" ('The Labour Party and the European Union for the benefit of the Maltese people') which was adopted by the Labour Party Extraordinary General Conference in November of that year. At this General Conference Muscat was approved as a candidate for the election to the European Parliament.

European Parliament

Muscat was elected to the European Parliament in 2004 with 36,958 votes, being the most voted candidate for the Malta Labour Party.

Muscat was a Member of the European Parliament with the Party of European Socialists) and Vice-President of the European Parliament's Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs and of the Delegations for relations with Belarus. He was also a substitute member of the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection, the Delegation for relations with the countries of south-east Europe and the Delegation to the EU-Armenia, EU-Azerbaijan and EU-Georgia Parliamentary Cooperation Committees.

As an MEP he supported decreasing tax for Satellite television dishes, the right for customers to watch sport events for free and a number of issues related to environmental protection in Malta. He was also responsible for a report on the roaming mobile phone bills and sale of banks.

Joseph Muscat has officially resigned from the European Parliament on 25 September 2008, soon after the same parliament approved his last assignment, a report proposing new regulations for the EU’s financial services sector. He stepped down as he is a Member of the Maltese Parliament and subsequently Leader of the Opposition.

2008 Leader of Labour Party campaign

On March 24, 2008 Muscat announced his candidacy for Leader of Malta Labour Party, to replace Alfred Sant who resigned after a third consecutive defeat for the Party in the March 2008 general election. Muscat was elected as the new party leader on June 6, 2008, garnering almost half the total votes on the first voting round and almost two-thirds on the second round.

He was co-opted in the Maltese Parliament on 01 October 2008 instead of Joseph Cuschieri.

Family and personal life

Muscat is married to Michelle nee Tanti and they have two twin daughters, Etoile Ella and Soleil Sophie.

References

External links

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