According to a report by Politico, Malta’s Glenn Micallef was pretty successfully in navigating the grilling, despite never having held political office.
‘Micallef pulled off some tricks that scored him points among culture committee lawmakers and — crucially — didn’t screw up on the content (of his rather light portfolio of intergenerational fairness, culture, youth, and sport)’, Politico reported.
‘He kicked off by referring to his time as a Parliament intern (and closed with an outstretched hand to lawmakers); spoke Maltese when addressing a question on multilingualism; and emphasised the importance of diversity after a controversial gender-in-sports-question — all of which went down well.’
Over the past week, the European Parliament’s committees held rigorous hearings to evaluate each of the 26 commissioner candidates on their readiness for EU policymaking roles. Success required respect, language skills, and avoiding spending promises.
Behind-the-scenes politics influenced outcomes, yet candidates faced intense scrutiny to demonstrate in-depth knowledge of their portfolios assigned by President Ursula von der Leyen.
#MaltaDaily
