Veronique Dalli says she withdrew EU judge bid after 'pre-determined' interview

Updated 4.00pm 

Veronique Dalli has withdrawn her nomination to the General Court of the European Union, claiming an interview panel led a process that felt “pre-determined.”

Dalli, a seasoned lawyer who is Energy Minister Miriam Dalli’s sister, was Malta’s second nominee for the role after Labour MP Edward Zammit Lewis was rejected. He claimed the PN had undermined his nomination.

The PN said the latest failure had brought "embarrassment upon Malta in Europe". 

Speaking to Times of Malta, Dalli said that as Malta’s nominee, she was recently interviewed about the role by a panel of retired judges. After the interview, Dalli said she withdrew her name from consideration.

“I do not want to go into specific details, but during the interview, I felt like the process was being steered in a pre-determined direction,” Dalli said. “After the interview and much consideration, I decided to formally withdraw my name."

The government is now tasked with finding another nominee to the General Court to replace Ramona Frendo, who was elevated to the European Court of Justice.

Contacted for comment, the Justice Ministry said: “The government has been informed that Dr Dalli has decided to withdraw her nomination. In these circumstances, the ministry is not in a position to comment, as any comments would be superfluous since these proceedings are now exhausted.”

In a statement, the PN said Robert Abela had brought "embarrassment upon Malta in Europe" as both his first and second preference nominee  for judge had "failed the vetting process". 

It accused the government of keeping the evaluation held last week in Luxembourg under wraps. 

"The Partit Nazzjonalista insists that the Labour Government must stop pushing forward partisan loyalists and instead reform the judicial nomination process," it said. 

"It is imperative that Malta’s nominees to high-level EU posts are selected on the basis of merit and competence, not partisan political convenience, which has so far only served to undermine Malta’s reputation across Europe".

It said both failures show that the prime minister and Justice Minister Jonathan Attard "have failed to grasp the seriousness of the scrutiny involved in the appointment of Judges to the General Court of the European Union".

Prospective judges are first nominated by an EU member state’s government. The nominee then appears in front of 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 recomendation 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.

In a statement Repubblika insisted nominations to the European Court of Justice should be made on the basis of merit by a specially appointed committee.

They sugested that a committee should be set up in the Constitution for Judicial Appointments to vet candidates who are in turn then sent to the European Court after a public call and selection process.

"It is clear that all the candidates chosen by the ministers are in some way close or very close to the Labour Party. While this alone should not exclude them from being candidates, it is not good for anyone for the government to close its eyes to other possible candidates," Repubblika said.