Louis Galea gets the nod from MEPs

Louis Galea has survived an uncomfortable grilling by MEPs to become Malta's second member of the European Court of Auditors. Dr Galea, the Speaker of the House, had to counter allegations from his past during Monday's 33-minute hearing before the European Parliament's budgetary control committee.

But despite the bumpy ride the committee approved his nomination yesterday, with the seasoned politician managing to sway 21 of the 25 MEPs in his favour. Just two deputies objected to his nomination and another two abstained.

Theoretically, his nomination still needs the final approval of the EP's plenary next week and that of member states but yesterday's endorsement is considered to be the most crucial of the three-pronged approval process; the next two hurdles are merely a formality.

The vote was taken during a secret ballot but sources close to the committee told The Times that the three largest political groups, the EPP, the Socialists and the Liberals, voted in favour of Dr Galea's nomination, as they did on all the other eight candidates.

"It seems, at the end of the day, the biggest political groups decided not to put spokes in each other's wheels," the sources said.

Dr Galea, associated with the EPP, was one of two nominees in the line of fire, the sources said. The other was Hungary's nominee, Szabolcs Eazacas, who was coming from the Socialist camp and was also given a good grilling by the EPP.

"At the end of the day it was either both or none and the EPP and the Socialists agreed both should be approved. This is how the EP works," the sources explained.

At the beginning of his hearing on Monday, Dr Galea was immediately put on the defensive by the Socialist rapporteur, Inez Ajala Sander, who referred to a Malta Today article claiming irregularities during his handling of the Auxiliary Workers Training Scheme in 1987 and the more recent Foundation of Tomorrow schools.

Ms Ayala Sander pressed Dr Galea to state how many school refurbishing contracts were dished out to members of his political constituency.

Dr Galea rebutted all the allegations and insisted investigations conducted on the two issues found no shred of evidence against him.

The attempt to derail Dr Galea's nomination started a few days before the hearing when the article was anonymously distributed among MEPs of the committee.

Dr Galea took immediate action to quash the allegations, by distributing an explanatory counter- memo answering in detail all the allegations. However, the Socialist rapporteur still decided to raise the issues at the start of his hearing.

At the European Court of Auditors, Dr Galea will be replacing former economic affairs minister Josef Bonnici who, as Malta's first member of the Court, ends a six-year tenure.

In the coming weeks, Dr Galea, who will be taking up residence in Luxembourg, will have to resign from his post as Speaker, which he has occupied since 2008 following his failure to be elected at the polls after a 33-year career as an MP.