MEP will tell Parliament to turn down Abela if he persists with candidature

The vice-chairman of the European Parliament committee that turned down Toni Abela’s candidacy for the European Court of Auditors, has urged Labour’s outgoing deputy leader for party affairs to withdraw his nomination.

Green MEP Igor Soltes (Slovenia) told The Times of Malta that Toni Abela had only one honourable option: “If he respects himself, and I am sure he does, Dr Abela should withdraw his nomination. He can go ahead if he chooses to and face the plenary’s vote but he has already promised in writing that he will respect the European Parliament’s opinion.”

Abela has so far said that if MEPs finds major objections to his nomination to the Court of Auditors, he would “feel obliged to withdraw [his] candidacy.”

Abela’s nomination was turned down by the Budgetary Control Committee this week after a 30-minute sitting and a secret vote that saw 17 MEPs vote against and nine in favour. His hearing's performance was stunted by his lack of experience in top-level government posts, as well as being overshadowed by questions focusing on his political life both before and after the 2013 election.

MEPs have yet to take a vote in a plenary session of the European Parliament to confirm whether Abela can make the grade to the Court of Auditors, unless Abela withdraws his candidacy.

But Soltes told the Times that he will recommend to MEPs that Abela’s nomination be turned down. “We think that Dr Abela is not the right candidate for the European Court of Auditors and this came out loud and clear from the hearing,” he said.

The Maltese government can still forge ahead and force through its nomination within the Council of Minister, but it would be considered as an affront to the consultative role assumed by the European Parliament.