Glenn Micallef has been formally announced as Malta’s nominee for the post of European Commissioner, after Prime Minister Robert Abela submitted the nomination to President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen.

Mr Micallef’s nomination comes after court ruled that former Deputy Prime Minister Chris Fearne, Prime Minister Abela’s first preference to the position, should stand trial for fraud over the Vitals scandal. Mr Fearne had requested the removal of his nomination last May, when news broke that a number of politicians, civil servants, and businesses are facing charges related to the hospital privatisation deal.

Mr Micallef’s nomination was first announced by the Prime Minister on Thursday, and this was confirmed through the formal nomination on Saturday.

While the European Commission President had asked each EU country to nominate a man and a woman with the hope of creating a gender-balanced Commission, no country has submitted two candidates yet.

So, who is Glenn Micallef?

Glenn Micallef is widely known for having served as Prime Minister Abela's Head of Secretariat, up until his resignation last month. He has since been replaced by former Identità and Transport Malta CEO Mark Mallia.

Mr Micallef had taken over the position from Clyde Caruana, who was then co-opted to Parliament and named Finance Minister.

Mr Micallef’s nomination represents the first time that a civil servant, rather than a politician, has been nominated for the position.

Despite this, Dr Abela previously stated that he has relevant experience in politics, particularly since he had attended Cabinet meetings and participated in its decisions over recent years.

Prior to his time as Head of Secretariat, Mr Micallef was Director General of Malta’s EU Coordination Department, a department within the Ministry for European Affairs that is tasked with Government’s overall internal coordination on all EU-related matters, meaning he is familiar with EU-related structures.

He is a graduate in Economics and European Politics from University of Malta. During his academic studies, he was a student activist and also served as Press Relations Officer and then President of student association Pulse.

He was also Consultant to the Prime Minister for European Affairs and was part of a team of negotiators who helped Malta secure a record allocation of European funds.

His former colleagues have described Mr Micallef as “upright and intelligent,” noting that he is approachable and humble.

However, a report from The Shift stated that members of Helena Dalli’s secretariat, Malta’s present European Commissioner, have informed Castille that Mr Micallef was not a good choice as he lacks experience and is still too young to survive a grilling from Members of European Parliament (MEPs).

While every country has one Commissioner, prior to their appointment they have to face European Parliament for a grilling that will take place at the end of September or early October.

MEPs can reject a Commissioner, as was the case in 2019 when the first choices of France, Hungary and Romania were refused.