EU commissioner-designate Karmenu Vella received unanimous approval from political groups after a meeting of coordinators that followed his hearing, Times of Malta has learnt.

The coordinators of the groups that sit on the environment and fisheries committees held the evaluation with the committee chairpersons on Monday night, after Mr Vella’s three-hour grilling.

European Parliament sources said MEPs were generally satisfied with Mr Vella’s performance, even though he exhibited weakness on the environment portfolio.

He came across as a likeable person

No vote on his nomination was called within the committees and even the more sceptical Greens approved, the sources said.

MEPs do not vote on the individual commissioner-designates but within the committees a vote may be requested if coordinators cannot find a compromise.

Serious concerns at committee level could prompt European Commission president-designate Jean-Claude Juncker to change his team before a single vote on all the commission is taken in the plenary on October 22.

After Mr Vella’s grilling, the Socialists and the European People’s Party, which have a majority between them in the parliament, praised his performance.

The EPP also called for a commitment to future action on environment legislation.

The Greens were critical, especially on Mr Vella’s vague answers and non-committal stance that new environment rules will be enacted.

While acknowledging that he did not have the answers to everything, during the hearing Mr Vella emphasised the effective implementation of existing environment protection laws rather than the introduction of new legislation.

Mr Vella was deemed to have been well-prepared on the fisheries portfolio and assertive when answering questions on hunting.

But the sources said Mr Vella’s demeanour also worked in his favour since he came across as “a likeable” person with whom MEPs could engage.

Mr Vella, who was tourism minister until March, will hold the largest portfolio by any Maltese European Commissioner.

The various committees of the European Parliament draw up assessment letters that will only be made public after all the hearings end next week, for each commissioner-designate.

These are then presented to the president of parliament.

Letters will include the conclusions reached by the committees and flag any concerns they may have on the prospective commissioners’ competence.

ksansone@timesofmalta.com