European Commissioner present at Labour meeting

European Commissioner for the Environment Karmenu Vella was present at a Labour Party rally in his hometown of Zurrieq this morning.

Vella served as a Labour MP between 1976 and 2014, when he resigned his seat and portfolio as tourism minister to take up the role of European Commissioner.

“I went to Europe and brought the guy back,” Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said at the start of his speech, a reference to Vella’s nickname ‘Il-Guy’. “I welcome Karmenu Vella amongst us, he’s doing a lot of good work in the European Commission.”

In his role as European Commissioner, Vella has run into conflict with Joseph Muscat over the Prime Minister’s decision to re-open a finch trapping season. After a number of warnings, the European Commission charged Malta at the European Court of Justice with breaching the EU Birds Directive.