Brussels is putting pressure on the government to nominate a woman as Malta’s next European commissioner instead of former tourism minister Karmenu Vella, Times of Malta is informed.
A high-ranking Commission official told this newspaper informal diplomatic messages have been sent to Prime Minister Joseph Muscat about the matter.
It appears that Dr Muscat is resisting the suggestion even though it comes with a promise of a “more interesting” portfolio if the nominee is replaced.
It is an open secret that Commission president-elect Jean Claude Juncker is seeking to have nine women among the 27 new commissioners.
We obviously have nothing against Karmenu Vella and think he has all the necessary qualities to serve
However, only six member states – Denmark, Sweden, the Czech Republic, Italy, Cyprus and Bulgaria – have so far nominated women candidates.
Informally, Mr Junker’s aides have told a number of member states, including Malta, that if they nominate a woman they would be eligible for one of the more important portfolios.
Finance and economy-related portfolios are considered to be among the most sought after posts and Mr Junker has already promised that these top positions would most probably be allocated to women.
“Malta has been approached to rethink its nominee,” a high-ranking Commission official told Times of Malta yesterday.
“We obviously have nothing against Mr Vella and think he has all the necessary qualities to serve in the Commission once approved by Parliament. However, at this point, we made it clear we would prefer a competent woman as Malta’s commissioner designate.”
Questions sent to the Office of the Prime Minister on whether Malta would react positively to the wishes expressed informally by Brussels remained unanswered at the time of writing.
Efforts to contact Mr Vella also proved unsuccessful.
According to the EU’s Treaty, it is up to individual member states to nominate a member of the European Commission. At the same time, it is up to the president-elect to decide and assign portfolios to each commissioner.
Although officially commissioners are considered to be all equal, independent of which country they come from, it is common practice that fierce horse-trading and lobbying take place before portfolios are assigned.
Normally, the most influential roles are reserved for the larger member states with minor jobs given to smaller countries.
This time round that might not be the case as women are expected to be given priority independently of where they come from.
Malta was among the first to announce its nominee, with Dr Muscat revealing his choice in March. Taking advantage of his first Cabinet reshuffle, just a year into office, Dr Muscat said Mr Vella had resigned as a minister to become a commissioner.
Meetings have already been held between Mr Junker and Dr Muscat when the commissioner-designate was discussed informally.
Mr Juncker has given member states until the end of this week to make their final nominations.
It is expected he will announce the portfolios by the end of next week.