Chief Justice Silvio Camilleri has been nominated as Malta’s second judge on the European Court of First Instance, also known as the General Court.

The European Parliament recently agreed on a plan to double the number of judges at the EU’s General Court. In the coming days, the European Council is expected to endorse the move.

In a statement, the government said Malta had been chosen among the first batch of 12 countries benefiting from the reform.

Following a public call pending the European Parliament’s decision, an evaluation board, presided over by former EU General Court judge Ena Cremona, unanimously agreed to nominate Chief Justice Silvio Camilleri .

His nomination will now be evaluated by an EU panel that will grill Dr Camilleri before giving confidential advice to the member states

His nomination will now be evaluated by an EU panel which will grill Dr Camilleri before giving confidential advice to the member states whether to endorse his nomination or not.

If his bid is successful and the post of Chief Justice became vacant, a further announcement would be made, the government said. Dr Camilleri graduated as a lawyer in 1975 and was appointed Attorney General in 2004. In 2010, he was named Chief Justice after then Chief Justice Vincent De Gaetano moved to Strasbourg as judge of the European Court of Human Rights. In 2012, Eugene Buttigieg, who lectured EU law at the University of Malta, succeeded Judge Cremona whe she retired at the age of 75. She had occupied the post since Malta’s EU accession in 2004. Judge Buttigieg’s term at the European General Court expires in 2019.