Updated 12.25pm
Glenn Micallef left a good impression on the committee that grilled Malta's nominee for the EU Commission.
Micallef – who at 35 is the youngest of the 27-person proposed college – will be responsible for finding ways of involving young people in EU policymaking.
In its evaluation letter following the November 4 grilling, the Committee on Culture and Education (CULT) said Micallef "gave a convincing impression of his aptitude to be a member of the College of Commissioners and to carry out the specific tasks assigned to him".
The evaluation letter was made public on Wednesday morning, hours before the European Parliament approved the new commission for the next five years.
To be confirmed, the College of Commissioners need the endorsement, en bloc, of a majority of the votes cast. Of the 688 votes cast by MEPs, 370 gave the go ahead, while 282 voted against.
In it, CULT chair Nela Riehl noted that Micallef showed a clear commitment to key values of diversity, fairness, solidarity, democracy, gender equality and social inclusion.
"Overall, he demonstrated a very positive attitude to engaging with the members, notably through future participation in structured dialogues with the EP".
Throughout the grilling, Riehl added, the commissioner-designate was able to answer members' questions with openness and clarity. In general, he showed a good grasp of the different policy areas.
However, "on occasions, his replies focused on headline policy priorities and lacked some details on future budgetary aspects within his portfolio," Riehl noted on the committee's behalf.
The committee added that some specificities, such as on the future culture compass could have been better explained and a detailed overview of the explicit cooperation between the directorate-general for education and that for communications was equally absent.
"Coordinators were expecting a comprehensive overview on the future of the European Solidarity Corps programme as well as a stronger commitment in engaging with young people with fewer opportunities," the chair said in the letter, adding that coordinators expect a thorough follow-up by Micallef on these issues in the near future.
The Committee on Employment and Social Affairs and the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs, which were also present at the grilling, greenlighted Micallef's nomination, saying he was "qualified".
According to data published by Politico, Micallef seems to have also left an impression on all major political groupings in the European Parliament except for two right-wing groups.
Apart from the go-ahead from the European People’s Party - the parliament's biggest grouping - he even got a nod of approval from the Eurosceptic right-wing European Conservatives and Reformists Group.
Before the vote on Wednesday, MEPs debated the new commission's programme with its President Ursula von der Leyen.
Ahead of the vote, most parliamentarians from the EPP, S&D and Renew were expected to vote in favour.
PN MEPs Peter Agius and David Casa both told Times of Malta they will be backing up Micallef's nomination. Metsola, as parliament president, could technically vote in favour as a majority of leaders of the parliament's various groupings have officially decided to back the commission.
But some - most notably Spanish members of the EPP - expressed outrage that Spain's former civil defence minister Teresa Ribera has been made a commission vice-president. They said Ribera is responsible for massive failings that exacerbated the destruction of floods in Valencia last month.
Rebels were also expected within the S&D, as some of its MEPs are angered by the nomination to executive vice president of Italy’s nominee Raffaele Fitto, who forms part of Giorgia Meloni's coalition.
Maltese S&D MEPs Alex Agius Saliba, Daniel Attard and Thomas Bajada all backed the commission's nomination.
The greens were split, Politico reported on Tuesday, while the parliament's more fringe groupings - the Patriots, Sovereigntists and Left were expected to vote against.