Karmenu Vella has been designated the biggest portfolio ever allocated to a Maltese European Commissioner, including responsibility for the environment, maritime affairs and fisheries.

Commission president-designate Jean-Claude Juncker yesterday published the list of portfolios his new team of commissioners will have.

Mr Juncker’s announcement in Brussels kick-started the formal process for the approval of the new EU Executive, which awaits the green light by MEPs before it starts its five-year mandate in November.

The portfolio offered to Mr Vella followed speculation in the international media which said he could be responsible for multilingualism and youth. The environment portfolio was unexpected by Brussels observers, particularly due to Malta’s controversial stand on hunting.

According to his ‘mission letter’ from Mr Juncker, Mr Vella will overhaul the environmental legislative framework and “make it fit for purpose”. He will carry out an “in-depth evaluation” of the Birds and Habitats directives and assess the potential for merging them into a more “modern piece of legislation”.

Juncker’s new team

Malta’s nominee for EU Commissioner Karmenu Vella. Photo: Jason Borg

Mr Vella, who, at 64, is the eldest member of the Juncker Commission, will be heading two directorate generals within the EU’s civil service: DG Environment and DG Mare, which, in the present Commission, fall under two separate commissioners.

Because of its vastness in legal terms, the environment had always been the single responsibility assigned to a commissioner. Mr Juncker’s move – already criticised by the strong environment lobby in Brussels – is aimed at creating synergy between the environment, maritime affairs and fisheries.

According to Mr Juncker, the new combination will “reflect the twin logic of ‘blue’ and ‘green’ growth, which should play a key role in creating jobs, preserving resources, stimulating growth and encouraging investment”.

Efforts to contact Mr Vella yesterday proved unsuccessful at the time of writing.

It will reflect the twin logic of blue and green growth

Mr Juncker has opted for a new structure for his Commission. The former Luxembourg prime minister nominated seven vice presidents – considered as the most important commissioners – who will steer and coordinate the work of all the other members of the Commission.

The ‘big’ member states appear to have secured what they were lobbying for.

While the UK government openly opposed Mr Juncker, its nominee, Jonathan Hill, got the financial services portfolio. French nominee Pierre Moscovici was assigned economic and financial affairs while Germany’s Gunther Oettinger will handle the digital economy and the Dutch nominee, Frans Timmermans, will be Mr Juncker’s right-hand man as first vice-president.

Although, according to the EU Treaties, commissioners are expected to act in the interests of the Union and have absolutely no link with their countries, it is an open secret that they tend to defend their country’s turf.

The nominees will now face one of the biggest hurdles in their mandate: a grilling by the European Parliament’s committees responsible for their designated areas.

The hearings are expected to be held in the last week of this month.

In the case of the nominees who fail to impress, MEPs can ask the president designate to replace their portfolio or to ask the member State in question to make a new nomination.

Nationalist MEPs will support Vella

The three Nationalist Party MEPs will vote for Karmenu Vella’s nomination as European Commissioner, party leader Simon Busuttil said.

Dr Busuttil yesterday reiterated his disappointment that the Prime Minister did not consult the Opposition on Mr Vella’s nomination but insisted he “will not make an issue out of this”.

However, he insisted Mr Vella still had to pass the test at the hands of MEPs, who will grill him and other Commission candidates.

“That is a test he has to pass and if he fails it is his problem,” Dr Busuttil said without saying whether the PN MEPs will be lobbying members of their own political group for Mr Vella’s nomination.

Dr Busuttil was interviewed on Iswed fuq l-Abjad, a discussion programme on NET TV, the party station. The programme was recorded on Tuesday before Mr Vella’s portfolio, which includes the environment, was made official yesterday.