Glenn Micallef Will Be First Commissioner-Designate To Be Grilled Next Month
Malta’s nominee for the EU Commission, Glenn Micallef, will be the first candidate to be grilled next month.
Micallef’s session will be held on 4th November from 2.30pm till 5.30pm, at the same time as Vice President of the EC and Slovakian nominee Maroš Sefčovič.
“This puts the Maltese Commissioner-designate in a slightly more advantageous position as he will have a hearing in a more neutral setting, before ‘the knives are out’, if we come to that at all, in other hearings,” PN MEP Peter Agius told Lovin Malta.
“Naturally all will depend on Micallef’s competence on the portfolio at the hearing. We want competent commissioners to implement the will of the people as expressed on 8th June. We will certainly not give discounts on competence.”
Micallef will be questioned by the European Parliament’s Committee on Culture and Education (CULT), while the committees on employment and social affairs (empl), the civil liberty (LIBE) and legal affairs (juri) will all send one person to ask a single question.
These sessions are known to be very intense, with rumours saying nominees aren’t allowed a break during the three hours of questioning.
The different committees will grill the nominees on several topics related to their potential portfolios. If accepted, Micallef will become the Commissioner for Intergenerational Fairness, Youth, Culture and Sport.
There was some concern about the strength of Micallef’s portfolio, with EU observers pointing out it is one of the weakest portfolios in Ursula vo der Leyen’s proposed new Cabinet.
In the last weeks, the Commissioner-designate has been doing the rounds in Strasbourg and Brussels meeting several MEPs, sources say that Micallef has so far left a good impression but his acceptance will all depend on how he answers the tough questions.
He’ll have to field through different issues facing the youth and sport sector, it’s likely that the issue of Erasmus in Hungary will be brought up.
Hungary no longer benefits from the Erasmus scheme due to its questionable approach towards the rule of law.
This is currently topical because last week, Hungary proposed a new draft law that it hopes will resolve this ongoing dispute by banning ministers, MPs and mayors from top positions in public universities.
How do you think Micallef will do in his round of questioning?
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