Karmenu Vella’s grilling set for 29 September

European Commissioner-designate Karmenu Vella will be facing a tough grilling at the hands of MEPs on Monday, 29 September, according to a draft calendar released by the European Parliament.

The ‘grilling’ is given to prospective Commissioners by MEPs, and Vella, awarded the Environment, Fisheries and Maritime Affairs, will be opening the sessions.

Already there are indications of unrest associated with Commission president Jean-Claude Junker’s choice of commissioner to handle the environment, fisheries and maritime affairs portfolio.

NGOs have expressed concern at an apparent ‘downgrade’ of the environment (previously a standalone portfolio) as a key area of European policy. Questions have also been raised – among others, by BirdLife Europe – regarding the suitability of Vella himself for the post, given his government’s track record in the area of wildlife protection.

Vella’s hearing will take place in the specific committees associated with his portfolio. Environment, fisheries and maritime policy are dealt with in two separate committees: environment by the ENVI commission; fisheries and maritime affairs by PECH. So the two committees will have to be brought together for a joint sitting.

Once Vella has duly answered the committees’ questions, the MEPs will remain in the chamber and discuss their assessment of the hearing: particularly, the group co-ordinators in those two committees.

 “Normally, within 24 hours there has to be a letter by the committee chairs, addressed to the conference of committee chairs,” Peter Agius, head of the European Parliament office in Malta, told MaltaToday on Sunday.

Before the new Commission can take office the European Parliament must officially approve the full Commission. Parliament is set to give this approval, or not, on 22 October. This would allow the new Commission to start work on 1 November. Incoming Commission President Juncker was already approved by the European Parliament in a vote on 15 July.

Fake Twitter account stirs ‘unrest’ among environmentalists

Soon after Vella’s appointment was announced by President-elect Jean-Claude Juncker, a sockpuppet account was set up – and removed over the weekend – posting controversial tweets on Twitter.

“Someone has created a false account and is impersonating me. @karmenuvellaeu is a fake account tweeting maliciously. Please block,” Vella said, through his official and verified Twitter account.

The tweets sent out by the sockpuppet created a stir among environmentalists who believed that Vella’s guiding principles would be that “a modern nature legislation should support and not oppose economic growth” and that “a modern nature legislation should consider more those it affects the most”.

Environmentalists tweeted back saying it was “very bad news” that changes to the Birds and Habitats Directives would promote economic development, farmers and hunters.

The fake Twitter account has since been removed, but the short period it was online was enough to fuel concerns on how the directive would be reformed.