If the government played its cards well Toni Abela could still make it to the European Court of Auditors despite Tuesday’s rejection, a Brussels lobbyist told the Times of Malta.

Dr Abela, Labour’s outgoing deputy leader, was rejected with nine votes in favour and 17 against – the largest number of no votes out of the three rejectees. The other three candidates went through.

European parliamentarians from the budgetary committee grilled him on his connection to the pre-electoral ‘white block’ scandal and his lack of experience in auditing, which were the two topics that dominated his interview in Brussels.

The government blamed the Opposition for Dr Abela’s failure. The social media was flooded with posts by Labour MPs including ministers and members of their secretariats criticising the Opposition for not backing the nomination.

The government even spoke of intentional manoeuvring to prevent Dr Abela from making it to the European Court of Auditors. “There were those who took an interest in working to damage the reputation of Toni Abela, a person known for his integrity,” an official statement released through the Department of Information said.

It’s up to the Labour Party

Yet, the head of Labour’s delegation in the European Parliament, former prime minister Alfred Sant, thanked Nationalist MEPs who he said accompanied him to meetings with representatives of the European People’s Party, with which the Nationalist Party is affiliated.

An experienced Brussels lobbyist on political campaigns said the result achieved by Dr Abela showed a poor lobbying effort by those from his own party.

“It’s true that the end result is dependent on the candidate’s performance at the hearing and in his case this didn’t go well. But the hearing is in turn dependent on the lobbying effort that generally starts a week or two before and is conducted by a team of people supporting the candidate,” he said on condition of anonymity.

“It’s normal practice for candidates to meet with their future interviewers on a one-on-one basis. This is an opportunity to dispel any concerns that have surfaced in relation to the candidate’s attributes and to understand what approach on different subjects could mitigate any lingering problematic issues,” he added.

While he said it was expected that Dr Abela would struggle in the hearing since experience within external audit bodies is a requirement clearly stated in the Treaty, what he found surprising was the extent of Dr Abela’s loss. “The votes show the lobbying effort was seriously flawed. The only question is whether this flawed lobbying effort was intentional or the result of genuine incompetence,” he noted.

Members of the European Court of Auditors are appointed by the European Council after consultation with the European Parliament. The result of the hearing in committee forms the basis of a report that must be voted on in the European Parliament by all MEPs. This is scheduled to take place during the April Strasbourg session. It was the result of this vote that would constitute the European Parliament’s official recommendation to the Council, he said.

Even if rejected, it is possible for the nomination to go ahead. There was a case in 2013 where the Parliament’s recommendation to reject a Croatian candidate for the European Court of Auditors was disregarded by the Council.

“It’s up to the Labour Party whether to push Dr Abela. To stand a chance, no matter how small, the party must not withdraw his nomination and pursue his chances at other levels if they truly believe he’s the best person for the job,” he added.