The selection of personnel by the President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, led to accusations of nepotism.
Gravel sounds were heard in Brussels President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola after being told about the appointment of his new chief of staff.
Metsola’s personnel will be managed by a Maltese Matthew Tabonewho started his career in Brussels in 2013 as an assistant to Metsola, who had just been elected MEP. Tabone comes from a family of politicians: his grandfather was Census Tabonethe fourth president of Malta. Tabone, like Metsola and his late grandfather, is a member of the Maltese Nationalist Party.
In addition to politics, however, Metsola and Tabone are also connected by family: Tabone is Metsola’s sister, Lisa Metsola husband. The couple got married in 2015.
– If this is not nepotism, then what is nepotism? Maltese MP, representative of the Labor Party, the arch-enemy of the Maltese Nationalist Party Alex Agius Saliba commented in a Facebook update.
Metsola was about to appoint Tabone as head of cabinet already in 2022, Politico reported. At that time, however, the MEPs’ corruption scandal, known as Qatargate, burst into the public eye. Metsola didn’t even appoint Tabone until now.
Metsola has been the subject of criticism before
Tabone’s appointment is not the first time that Speaker Metsola’s personnel policy has come under fire.
In 2022, the Bureau of the European Parliament elected Metsola’s head of cabinet at the time, an Italian Alessandor Chiocchetti as secretary general of the parliament. The secretary-general is the most influential and important official in the entire parliament.
Metsola’s European Parliament group, the largest group in the parliament, EPP, naturally wanted the position from the ranks of one of the parties. The selection of the chief of staff of the President of the Parliament for the position raised accusations of racketeering. Among others, the then Finnish MEP, of the Green Party, participated in the criticism Heidi Hautala.
Hautala published Chiocchetti information about the selection with the title “Backroom deals & completely inadequate, rushed process”.
– This sad saga, with which Mr. Chiocchetti was appointed Secretary General of the European Parliament, will surely damage the reputation of the Parliament in the eyes of European citizens and representatives of the EU institutions, Hautala wrote.
In the letter, Hautala claims that the selection was a complicated arrangement in which other parliamentary groups received new actions and appointments in return.
Politico asked Metsola for a comment on Tabone’s appointment. Metsola’s office referred to the matter in response to the published bulletin.