Borg accepts nomination as EU commissioner

Prime Minister Eddie Fenech Adami yesterday confirmed that Foreign Minister Joe Borg would be the only government nominee for the prestigious post of European Commissioner.

Dr Borg, who has accepted the nomination, will have to relinquish his job as foreign minister as well as his seat in parliament over the coming months. He will be the first Maltese to join the college of commissioners, the equivalent of a cabinet of ministers.

Speaking to reporters after a cabinet meeting yesterday, Dr Fenech Adami, recovered from flu, said Dr Borg was expected to serve in the initial term of the outgoing EU commission led by Commission president Romano Prodi but was then expected to be confirmed for a further five years to serve in the new commission of the enlarged Union.

Dr Borg, 51, has been foreign minister since 1999 after his predecessor, Guido de Marco, was appointed President.

A technocrat-turned-politician, Dr Borg had set up Malta's EU directorate in the late 1980s.

Later this month Dr Fenech Adami will be meeting Mr Prodi at his office in Brussels to inform him about Dr Borg's nomination.

Dr Fenech Adami also confirmed that Richard Cachia Caruana, his closest aide, would become Malta's first permanent representative in Brussels.

Mr Cachia Caruana, 48, has been Dr Fenech Adami's personal assistant since 1987. In the previous legislature, he was also chief negotiator in the government's EU accession talks.