Nationalist Party MEP David Casa appeared to break rank with his party’s unqualified approval of EU Commissioner-designate Helena Dalli on Saturday, demanding an “unequivocal condemnation” of rule of law failings from her when she appears before MEPs later this month.
Writing on Facebook, Mr Casa said that Dr Dalli had to disavow Keith Schembri and Konrad Mizzi and the government’s double standards during the MEP hearing she must undergo as part of her approval process.
Mr Schembri, who serves as the Prime Minister’s chief of staff, and minister Konrad Mizzi remain in office despite the Panama Papers having revealed that they set up secret offshore structures after assuming power.
“We expect unequivocal condemnation of this during her Parliament hearing,” Mr Casa wrote.
A PN spokesman told Times of Malta that the party’s position remained unchanged.
Helena Dalli has been nominated as Equality Commissioner.“The PN has repeatedly said that it will back Helena Dalli’s nomination, in the national interest,” a spokesman said.
Dr Dalli has been selected to serve as Equality commissioner by incoming Commission president Ursula von der Leyen. Before she can assume that role, however, she must survive a grilling by MEPs and then be approved through the European Parliament plenary vote as part of a broader vote of Ms von der Leyen’s executive team.
How will Dr Dalli be questioned by MEPs?
Under EU rules, commissioner-designates such as Dr Dalli are first assessed for potential conflicts of interest by the EP’s legal affairs committee.
After that initial screening, they must appear before a panel of MEPs for three hours of questions. A maximum of 25 questions are allowed, ideally grouped together by theme. Candidates must be approved by at least two-thirds of members to pass.
Once each commissioner-designate has been grilled, the incoming European Commission team must be approved as a whole by a vote of all MEPs which requires a simple majority.
Commissioners whose portfolio tallies perfectly with an existing EP committee are grilled by that respective committee.
Portfolios such as Dr Dalli’s, however, cut across a variety of committees and she is therefore likely to be grilled by members of a variety of committees – most likely members of a committee on women’s rights and gender equality (FEMM) and of the committee on employment and social affaitrs (EMPL).
Sources told Times of Malta that the parliament had not yet established which committees should be involved in Dr Dalli’s hearing, with the Justice and Civil Liberties committee (LIBE) also potentially playing a role.
Mr Casa is a member of the EMPL committee, while fellow PN MEP Roberta Metsola sits on the LIBE committee. If either of those two committees are involved in Dr Dalli’s hearing, they will potentially have the opportunity to ask Dr Dalli some difficult questions about her time in government.
When contacted on Saturday, Dr Metsola kept her cards close to her chest.
"Everything I need to tell Helena Dalli, I will do so in a meeting next week," she said.
"Before that meeting I do not think it fair or prudent to comment further".
In his post on Saturday, Mr Casa gave an indication of where his thoughts lie.
‘Helena Dalli can’t hope to secure the post of Equality Commissioner if she continues to close an eye to the blatant inequality in how people are treated in Malta. Normal citizens face the law, whilst her colleagues are protected at all costs,” he wrote.