The candidates for the second Barroso Commission will have to lay bare all their financial and business connections in public if they want to be given the approval of Euro Parliamentarians, according to senior MEP Andrew Duff.
Mr Duff drew up the rules that govern the hearings during which commissioners-designate will be grilled for suitability this January.
"The (parliamentary) committees will want the full disclosure of relevant financial information, including that of the candidates' partners and families," he said, indicating that this will be one of the most important areas that MEPs will be looking into to weed out any conflicts of interest.
The commissioners-designate will have to sit for a three-hour grilling in front of separate EP committees related to the area of competence designated to them by Commission President José Manuel Barroso. These sessions are considered to be one of the major hurdles the new commissioners will have to face before starting their five-year mandate in Brussels.
Mr Duff said MEPs would be expecting the commissioners-designate to have a decent grasp of their given portfolio, the capability to be a good team player and good communication skills.
"This information is necessary in order to ensure a 'top-class' Commission," he said.
The nominees will soon be receiving a questionnaire from the EP that will act as the basis on which the grilling will take place. They will also have to send MEPs a declaration of their financial interests.
Malta's nominee, Social Policy Minister John Dalli, is in Brussels being briefed on his health and consumer policy portfolio. He will most probably be appearing before the environment, public health and food safety, internal market and consumer protection committees.
Mr Dalli has also declared he has no business interests and, thus, no conflicts of interest.
Out of office, following his resignation from Foreign Affairs Minister in 2004 in the wake of allegations surrounding the purchase of airline tickets by his ministry from a company where his daughter and driver were involved, Mr Dalli went into business and formed John Dalli & Associates, a consultancy firm based in Malta and Libya.
After he was cleared from the allegations and returned to the Cabinet last year, he relinquished his duties of executive chairman in the consultancy firm. In his 2008 financial declaration submitted to the Maltese Parliament, Mr Dalli declared that last year he held a directorship in a company called AGHC, registered in Libya. He also declared property in Tripoli, an apartment in Portomaso, a house in Qormi and a piece of agricultural land in Siġġiewi.