Leo Brincat approval by EU ambassadors signals Council’s green light for Malta nominee

Permanent representatives of EU states have approved Leo Brincat's nomination as Malta's representative in the European Court of Auditors.

The nomination was approved without discussion by COREPER, the permanent representatives of EU member states, two weeks after his nomination was rejected by the European Parliament.

The European Court of Auditors decides matters of huge financial significance and demands that, aside from experience in financial matters and leadership of large organisations, candidates' integrity must not be in doubt.

Brincat had been rejected by the European Parliament, by 381 votes against, 229 in favour and 58 abstentions, during the second step of the three in the nomination process. Although no official reasons were given for the result of the secret ballot, the European People's Party had released an uncompromising statement about the nomination, criticising Malta's choice to send a former minister instead of a technocrat as its candidate.

"The EPP group thinks that the Maltese government has a heavy baggage and the least it could have done is to nominate an independent and competent candidate, not a former minister,” the statement said.

“The fact that the Maltese government chose to sell Maltese / EU citizenship, in a non-transparent way, raises big question marks. The way this government handled the Panama Papers scandal continues to cement our strong-held beliefs that this government is on the wrong track. These two episodes are doing untold damage to Malta’s reputation and we cannot in our wildest dreams accept Mr Brincat as member of the European Court of Auditors, out of all institutions, as he was until recently part and parcel of this government. For the sake of Malta’s interests we implore Prime Minister Joseph Muscat to see sense and nominate an independent and competent candidate.” 

Before reaching that stage, Brincat had only just cleared the first hurdle, the Budgetary Control Committee, which had accepted him by 11 votes in favour, nine against and one abstention. It was at this stage that, six months ago, Malta's previous candidate Toni Abela had been rejected by 17 votes against and nine in favour.

The European Council of Ministers, which is empowered to overrule the EP's rejection, is expected to formally confirm Brincat's nomination when it meets on September 29.