The Parliamentary Public Appointments Committee has approved the nomination of Daniel Azzopardi to serve as Malta's permanent representative to the EU once the term of incumbent Marlene Bonnici expires.

Mr Azzopardi is the current CEO of the Energy and Water Agency.

The Opposition voted against his nomination.

Mr Azzopardi replied to a series of questions on policy and the changes that he would make to Dar Malta’s administrative structure.

He identified migration as his priority, arguing that EU migration policy could not be taken “á la carte,” and that it must be crafted in such a way as to balance the interests of Northern and Southern European nations alike.

Questioned about the EU’s next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), which would set out how the EU budget for 2021-2027 was to be spent, Mr Azzopardi said that “the pot is what it is” following Brexit, with Britain having been one of the EU’s largest net contributors.  

He added, however, that despite Malta’s economic growth, it continued to suffer from various handicaps which GDP did not reflect, such as its small size, its isolation as an island on the periphery of the European Union, the need to sustain growth already achieved, and diseconomies of scale.

Together with the fact that Malta still qualified as a “transition economy,” these arguments meant that Malta had a compelling argument for its package of EU funding to be retained or increased, he said. 

Should the worse come to worst, he added, Malta could make use of Gozo’s regionality in order to obtain funding for Gozo as a separate region.

The EU Commission, on its own initiative, was already investigating the discrepancy between the economy of Malta and that of Gozo, he said.

Furthermore, government entities could make use of direct funding from the European Commission, which was already the case with respect to projects such as the EU-Malta gas pipeline, which had scored first among the applications submitted for consideration.

Mr Azzopardi stated that the key to maximizing access to such funding was ensuring that entities had the “know-how” to successfully apply for it.

Mr Azzopardi was also questioned on the EU’s various efforts to bring about tax harmonisation among member states, especially in light of the loss of the United Kingdom, which had proven itself to be a key ally in the fight against harmonisation.

Mr Azzopardi made reference to EU treaties, which guaranteed member states sovereignty on matters of direct taxation, in part to allow them to compensate for geographic handicaps. The consequences for Malta should tax harmonisation come into effect would be “bad,” and the EU institutions were beginning to understand Malta’s position, he said. However, he emphasized that Malta’s position had been favoured by “friendly presidencies” by member-states which had not put harmonisation on the forefront of the EU agenda; the country now needed to account for the fact that this might so.