Armed Forces of Malta commander Martin Xuereb starts his leave today before he officially retires in December after 26 years of service.

Though he will still remain legally responsible for the army until then, his number two, newly-appointed deputy commander, Jeffrey Curmi, takes over the day-to-day running.

A spokesman for the Home Affairs Ministry said yesterday that once he had retired from active service, Brig. Xuereb would become a public servant. Sources said he would retain his salary scale.

He is expected to be posted to Brussels in January, where he will coordinate security and defence issues in the run-up to Malta’s European Union presidency in 2017.

This technically does not imply Jeffrey Curmi will automatically be promoted to commander

Col. Curmi was promoted deputy commander amid controversy. He was among seven majors who were first made lieutenant colonels and then colonels in the space of a fortnight. His promotion to the army’s second highest rank was his third promotion in three weeks.

He succeeded former deputy commander David Attard, who retired from the army after being transferred to the Detention Services following the change of government.

The ministry spokesman said that although Col. Curmi was now running the armed forces, this technically did not necessarily mean he would automatically be promoted to commander.

However, Col. Curmi has long been touted as Brig. Xuereb’s successor.