PM claims EU judge applicant took ‘subtle digs’ at Malta before Dalli withdrew

Someone who wanted to be Malta’s nominee for European Union court judge gave “subtle digs” against Malta, Robert Abela said on Wednesday. 

The prime minister was speaking after lawyer Veronique Dalli, told Times of Malta on Tuesday that she had withdrawn her nomination to become a judge with the General Court of the European Union.

Dalli, who was the government's nominee for the job, claimed that the interview panel led a process that felt “pre-determined”.  According to procedure, the committee's opinion on the candidate is issued on the same day as the interview, with government likely informed immediately about her performance. 

On Wednesday morning, Abela claimed that someone who applied to be Malta's nominee bragged that he had the court ruling against Malta’s “golden passports” before it was officially released.

Abela added that this person, who he said works at the Court of Justice of the European Union, "harmed" Malta. “He spoke up earlier, passing subtle digs against the Maltese government,” Abela said.

This is the government’s second failed nomination, after Labour MP Edward Zammit Lewis was rejected for the role of judge in December, blaming the Nationalist Party for undermining him.

Speaking to journalists on Wednesday, Abela said the government had issued an open call for people to apply to be candidates to become judges. 

Abela did not name the man he was referring to. 

Jacques René Zammit, one of the applicants who works with the EU court, declined to comment when approached by Times of Malta. The second applicant who works with the EU court is a woman. 

'Someone will try to cause harm again'

The prime minister reminded people about Zammit Lewis’s rejection, arguing that there were no doubts surrounding his integrity, but the only reason he was rejected was because of the attacks a “small group of people” made against him.

“What’s clear from all this is that there are people outside this country who are causing harm. Even one of the applicants has caused harm to this country,” Abela said.

The Nationalist Party called the latest failure an “embarrassment upon Malta in Europe”. When asked whether the second failed nomination is an embarrassment, Abela said that the PN is the one causing “harm to this country”.

Abela said that eventually Malta will have a new candidate, but he made it clear that the new candidate will not be someone who has tried to systematically smear Malta’s and other candidates’ names.

“The aim is for there to be a nominee who passes scrutiny, but I have little doubt that there will be someone who will try to cause harm again,” Abela said.

Prospective judges are first nominated by an EU member state’s government. The nominee must then face a panel of seven retired judges, most of whom were members of the EU courts or the courts of the Council of Europe.

The panel is tasked with providing a negative or positive recommendation, but the final decision rests with the EU’s Council of Justice and Home Affairs ministers. That decision must be unanimous.

Although the council has the final say, it generally rests on the panel’s recommendation.