Toni Abela nominated to European Court of Auditors

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has nominated Labour Party deputy leader Toni Abela to succeed Louis Galea as member of the European Court of Auditors.

Toni Abela, 58, was a former Labour Party president who was expelled in 1989 after taking a stand against the corruption inside the party, pointing fingers at members of Labour’s former cabinet group.

He was one of the founders of Alternattiva Demokratika, the Green Party, with the former Labour whip Wenzu Mintoff, today judge.

I have nominated Dr Toni Abela to succeed Dr Louis Galea as member of the European Court of Auditors. I am sure Toni will do #Malta proud-JM

— Joseph Muscat (@JosephMuscat_JM) January 30, 2016

Abela left AD after the 1998 election, together with Mintoff. He later secured himself a slot on Labour's TV channel One as a presenter of his politically-themed chat shows, before taking yet another stab at politics by running for deputy leader for party affairs in 2008.

Toni Abela first stood for the general elections in 1987 on the 1st district when he obtained 6.62% of first preference votes and on the 4th district when he obtained 10% of first preference votes.

Abela replaces Louis Galea, the former Nationalist minister, on the ECA, whose seat is in Luxembourg. The role comes with a monthly €20,000 salary, as well as €40,000 in installation expenses, reimbursement of family and moving expenses - an annual salary of at least €240,000 apart from other regular allowances.

The members of the ECA are appointed by the Council, after consultation with the European Parliament, following nomination by their respective Member States. Members are appointed for a renewable term of six years. They are required to perform their duties in complete independence and in the general interest of the European Union.

As well as being part of the Court, members are assigned to one of the five chambers. They adopt audit reports and opinions as well as take decisions on broader strategic and administrative issues. Each Member also has responsibility for his or her own tasks, primarily audit.