Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1526919
10 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 22 SEPTEMBER 2024 ANALYSIS KURT SANSONE ksansone@mediatoday.com.mt Malta got the short end of the stick in Von GLENN Micallef will be respon- sible for intergenerational fair- ness, youth, culture and sports in the new European Commission if he is approved by the Europe- an Parliament. It is a qualified 'if' because Micallef is touted within the corridors of Brussels as one of the commissioner-designates who will be put through the wringer by MEPs. All commissioners in Ursula von der Leyen's new team will undergo grilling sessions in the European Parliament over the coming weeks. It is one of those few mo- ments when MEPs get to flex their muscles and since 2004 the parliament has rejected at least one nominee in every new Commission. The Brussels-based Politico, a news portal, identified Malta's nominee as one of five com- missioners 'most likely to get the chop'. Describing Micallef as 'the newbie', the reason Po- litico gives is his lack of expe- rience. MaltaToday had reported similar remarks a few weeks ago made by several sources in the Maltese government and in Brussels, questioning the suita- bility of Micallef's choice. Von der Leyen had asked national governments to put forward prospective commis- sioners with "executive compe- tence". The highest posting Micallef had was head of secretariat at the Office of the Prime Minis- ter and Robert Abela's 'sherpa' in Brussels – a far cry from the political, ministerial and dip- lomatic experience normally associated with commissioner postings. Nonetheless, if Micallef does manage to convince MEPs that he has the competence to fulfil his role – he is knowledgeable about EU affairs and the Brus- sels machinations involved to clinch deals – the portfolio he will manage has little sig- nificance on an EU level. It is indeed the weakest portfolio Malta has ever bagged since it joined the EU in 2004 and one commensurate with his level of experience. The word that irked Castille When MaltaToday described Micallef's portfolio as 'weak' on the day Von der Leyen unveiled her choices, the highest ech- elons of the Maltese govern- ment went into a frenzy trying to convince us otherwise. "He will have a big budget", "he will have a DG", we were told privately in a concerted ef- fort to convince us to tweak the headline. Publicly, the Prime Minister went into overdrive describ- ing the portfolio as "one of the strongest" as he thanked Von der Leyen for trusting Micallef with it. And then the European-based news networks gave their ver- dict: 'The Maltese candidate's lack of experience as a minister and short political career led to a portfolio with little rele- vance at the European level and even less clout', Politico said of Glenn Micallef, while putting him top of the 'losers' category; 'Another country that drew the short straw was Malta, which lobbied to capture the novel portfolio for the Mediterra- nean but ended up with Inter- generational Fairness, Youth, Culture and Sport', Euronews screamed. It is a known fact that Robert Abela had been lobbying hard for the newly created Mediter- ranean portfolio, an idea Malta had floated some months back. The Prime Minister himself had indicated as much during an interview with RTK edi- tor-in-chief Matthew Xuereb at the Upper Barrakka Gardens in Valletta at the start of sum- mer. Von der Leyen assigned the Mediterranean portfolio, which includes relations with the southern neighbourhood, to the Croatian nominee. But other players in the cul- tural and youth sectors were al- so taken aback by MaltaToday's description of Micallef's port- folio as 'weak' – at a very su- perficial level they interpreted the language as a jibe towards culture, sports and young peo- ple. It is anything but. A third-tier competence The truth is that Micallef has been handed a portfolio that is a sliver of what it was in the outgoing Commission when education and research and de- velopment also formed part of the package. But more significantly, the fields of culture, sport and youth are neither sole compe- tences of the EU nor shared competences. Indeed, they fall in the third tier, where the EU's competences are limited to "support, coordinate or supple- ment the actions of the Mem- ber States". This is what makes the port- folio 'weak' and of little rele- vance at EU level. And it jars when compared to the portfo- lios Malta has had in the past. The competences of the EU are defined in the EU Treaties, specifically in articles two to six of the Treaty on the func- tioning of the European Union (TFEU). There are competences that are exclusive to the EU, which Portfolios held by Maltese commissioners Joe Borg (2004-2009) Maritime affairs and fisheries (Article 4 competencies and Article 3 for conservation of marine biological resources) John Dalli (2009-2012) Health and consumer policy (Article 4) Tonio Borg (2012-2014) Health and consumer policy (Article 4)