Malta’s nomination of Tonio Borg to the post of European Commissioner was thrown into fresh uncertainty last night when the Socialist group within the European Parliament decided to oppose him.
Dr Borg can now only bank solidly on the support of the European People’s Party
The unexpected news means Dr Borg can’t be at all sure of winning the backing of the majority of MEPs when they vote today on whether to approve him in a plenary session of the Parliament in Strasbourg.
After initial signs that they might support the Maltese nominee, the Socialist group decided to oppose Dr Borg’s nomination, with 62 voting against and 24 in favour. This came despite the group’s president, Hannes Swoboda, having declared he would vote in favour following a number of commitments made by Dr Borg in writing, such as to women’s rights and to recognise the dignity of all EU citizens regardless of their sexual orientation.
Malta’s Deputy Prime Minister, who has been nominated to replace John Dalli as European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Affairs, will need to garner a simple majority of the votes to secure his seat on the Commission. If all MEPs cast their ballot, which is not normally the case, that figure is 378 votes.
However, Dr Borg can now only bank solidly on the support of MEPs from the European People’s Party, which although the largest in the chamber with 287 MEPs, does not command a majority on its own.
Sources close to the EP said that, while the majority of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) – who total 50 MEPs – are also expected to support Dr Borg, the only way he will be approved is for MEPs from other political groups to go against their party line and back him.
The result, the sources added, was now too close to call and there was a big risk the nomination would be rejected.
The Maltese Labour MEPs have been lobbying to sway their Socialist colleagues in favour of Dr Borg. The majority of Socialist MEPs did not attend yesterday’s meeting and there is still hope that a substantial number of them can be won over.
Widely praised performance was not enough
Several attempts made by The Times to contact Labour’s head of delegation Louis Grech last night were unsuccessful.
Since his nomination by the Maltese government to take the place vacated on the forced resignation of Mr Dalli, Malta’s Foreign Minister has faced unprecedented opposition particularly from gay, lesbian and pro-abortion NGOs. They deem his views on civil and women’s rights as too conservative.
His widely praised performance before MEPs last week, when he was grilled on areas that would fall under his competence, has not been enough to change their minds.
A few hours before the crucial Socialist vote, the European umbrella organisation of lesbian and gay rights NGOs – ILGA-Europe – published a list of 93 European organisations that are urging a vote against Malta’s nominee.
Malta will have to make a fresh nomination if Dr Borg is rejected.