Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi is not expected to name his nominee as Malta's next European Commissioner before October 2, when the second Irish referendum on the Lisbon Treaty will be held.
The European Parliament is expected to endorse Commission President José Manuel Barroso for a second five-year term next week. However, his spokesman said yesterday the new Commission would most probably have to be nominated following the Irish vote as it would then become clearer under which treaty the new Commission was to be nominated.
"It all depends on the decisions to be taken in the coming weeks," spokesman Johannes Laitenberger said when asked for how long the present Commission will function. He underlined that "President Barroso has already said that any caretaker period will need to be limited to the minimum".
According to the present rules, the Commission's mandate ends at the end of October, by when a new set of commissioners has to be appointed. However, this time round the issue is complicated by the fact that it is not clear yet under which rules the new EU Executive will be appointed, given the uncertainty on the approval of the new Lisbon Treaty.
If approved, the new treaty gives the right to all the 27 member states to nominate a commissioner. However, if on October 2 the Irish once again reject the Lisbon Treaty, the rules of the Nice Treaty will apply, which means the Commission will have a maximum of 26 commissioners, leaving one member state out. In this eventuality, it will have to be decided which of the member states will not be nominating a commissioner, a problem that might take very long to resolve.
Until now, none of the 27 member states has officially made its nomination, apart from Portugal due to Mr Barroso's re-appointment. However, many of the member states that intend to re-appoint their current commissioner for a second term have already announced their intentions. These include Luxembourg, Slovenia, Italy, Belgium and Latvia. Other member states, particularly the large ones that are hoping for an important portfolio, are also making their intentions known, although informally.
Dr Gonzi has kept his cards close to his chest and is not expected to reveal his nominee before the Irish referendum. The names being floated as possible choices are Joe Borg, the present commissioner, Malta's Permanent Representative to the EU Richard Cachia Caruana and veteran minister John Dalli.
According to the rules, it is up to the Prime Minister to submit his nomination to Mr Barroso. It will then be up to the President of the Commission to assign a portfolio to the new Maltese commissioner.