Dalli may be nominated for EU commissioner
Minister says he knows "absolutely nothing about it"
Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi is considering nominating Social Policy Minister John Dalli for the post of European Commissioner, government sources said.
"The two most likely candidates for the post are the present commissioner, Joe Borg or Richard Cachia Caruana who heads Malta's representation to the EU in Brussels," the source said.
"However, there is also the possibility the Prime Minister will try another card and nominate John Dalli," the sources added.
When contacted yesterday, Mr Dalli said he knew "absolutely nothing" about this potential nomination. When asked whether he would be interested, he repeated the line, saying he knew nothing about the matter.
In the meantime, Dr Gonzi indicated he would have to wait until the outcome of the second Irish referendum on the Lisbon Treaty before nominating Malta's next European commissioner.
The present Commission's mandate ends at the end of October. Under normal circumstances member states would have been asked to make their formal nominations this summer. However, because the fate of the Lisbon Treaty, which also affects the Commission, still hangs in the balance pending a second referendum in Ireland in October, member states will have to postpone their nominations until then in order to see under which rules the new EU Executive will be set up.
Under the Nice Treaty rules, the next Commission will have to be reduced to fewer than 27 commissioners with a risk that certain member states will not be able to have a commissioner. However, member states are not banking on this scenario as, according to the new Lisbon Treaty, every member state will be able to nominate one commissioner, as is the case with the present Commission.
Asked yesterday to name the most likely candidates for this prestigious post, Dr Gonzi chose to keep his options open saying this would be decided at the appropriate time.
However, government sources later said that Dr Gonzi's final choice would likely be made from a short-list of two to three candidates.
So far, only Dr Borg has publicly declared his interest in the post. On the other hand, although Mr Cachia Caruana is known to also be interested, he had told The Sunday Times in an interview earlier this year that "it was not correct (for him) to comment on this issue".
On his part, Mr Dalli, who re-joined the Cabinet after having resigned in the previous Gonzi Administration, has never publicly shown interest in the post although the sources said that he had been interested in the post when Malta had nominated Dr Borg as its first commissioner in 2003.
The future of the Commission was addressed by EU leaders on Thursday during their first day of the EU summit with the Commission President José Manuel Barroso also seeking a second term at the helm, having been given a political endorsement by member states.
However, Mr Barroso's nomination is not yet secure because the European Parliament is insisting on proper consultations before it votes on his re-nomination.
Addressing EU leaders, the outgoing president of the European Parliament Hans Gert Poettering said there were divergent views in the European Parliament as to the timing of choice of the European Commission's President. He said Parliament's Conference of Presidents would make a decision on July 9 on this issue.
"For the composition of the complete College of Commissioners it is entirely feasible and preferable to await the outcome of the referendum in Ireland," Mr Poettering said.