LA VALLETTA (MALTA) (MNA/ITALPRESS) – Maltese Prime Minister Robert Abela nominated Glenn Micallef, his former Head of Secretariat at the Office of the Prime Minister, to be Maltàs next European Commissioner. His nomination comes just days after courts dashed Abelàs hopes to reinstate former Deputy Prime Minister and former Health Minister Chris Fearnès nomination. Fearne resigned following fraud charges and a court ruled he should stand trial for fraud over the privatization process of three state hospitals. It was a long-standing custom that the Maltese government nominates a politician to the role of European Commissioner. According to political observers, the move to nominate Micallef will almost certainly lead to Malta receiving one of the least wanted portfolios within the EU cabinet. Micallef has risen rapidly within government circles, having spent the past years serving as the Prime Minister’s head of secretariat. Micallef was responsible for the day-to-day running of the prime minister’s office. He also represented Malta, together with the Maltese Foreign Minister Ian Borg, in a Ukraine-led peace summit late last year. Before joining the Prime Minister’s office, he served as the director general for Maltàs EU coordination department, a body within the foreign office that is responsible for managing Maltàs position in discussions with EU institutions and making sure European laws and policies are included in Maltàs political system. He is broadly seen to be an expert in EU policy, having also served as Abelàs advisor on EU affairs. All commissioner nominees will face the European parliamentarians for a grilling before they are formally accepted. According to a Politico report, 10 of the EU’s 27 member states have submitted their nomination so far. Four of these – Slovakia, Latvia, Croatia, and the Netherlands – chose to re-confirm their existing Commissioner. Of the remaining six countries, four of them are nominating either current or former ministers, with a fifth, Finland, opting for one of their MEPs. The only non-politician from the bunch is Sloveniàs Toma Vesel, a 57-year-old lawyer who spent most of the past decade presiding over the country’s Court of Audit.
– Photo Doi (Dipartimento per l’informazione) –
(ITALPRESS).
