Glenn Micallef to face grilling in November as Commission appointment delayed

According to a new schedule approved by the European Parliament, Glenn Micallef, Malta’s designated European Commissioner for Intergenerational Fairness, will face a tough grilling by MEPs in Brussels during the first week of November.

His grilling will be held in front of the EP’s parliamentary committee for culture, and members of three other committees, employment, civil liberties, and justice, will be invited to participate.

While the day of Micallef’s grilling has not been set yet, the EP’s decision-making body – the Conference of Presidents – led by President Roberta Metsola decided that all designated EU Commissioners will be evaluated between November 4 and 12, with the final decision taken later during the same month.

This means the second Von der Leyen Commission can only be installed in December, a month later than scheduled.

While the European People’s Party (EPP) was pushing to have the grilling sessions earlier this same month so that the new Commission could be installed in November, the rest of the political parties represented in the European Parliament shot this down.

The reason was that MEPs wanted more time to prepare for the grilling sessions and to evaluate the written responses to questions that the committees sent to the Commission nominees.

Micallef, 35, the former chief of staff of Prime Minister Robert Abela, was assigned one of the least important portfolios in the new Commission. Since joining the EU, Malta has acquired portfolios important for the country, such as health and maritime affairs, but all that changed when Helena Dalli was sent to Brussels, and now, Glenn Micallef.

Abela’s nomination of a candidate with no political clout and experience did not go well in Brussels. President Ursula von der Leyen had pressured Abela to reconsider his position, but Abela insisted on his nominee.

Micallef is expected to face a tough grilling even though, due to the portfolio assigned to him, he is not considered to be on the primary target list of MEPs.

Designate commissioners must get the nod of EP committees. The country will be asked to submit a new nomination if this does not happen.