Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament, appoints her brother-in-law as head of her cabinet
Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament, has appointed her assistant and brother-in-law Matthew Tabone as head of her cabinet. In 2022, she failed in her attempt to appoint him and had to back down.
EP rules from 2009 stipulate that MEPs cannot appoint direct relatives, but Tabone is not considered a first-degree relative. Tabone has worked in Metsola's MEP office since 2013 and has been a member of her cabinet since her election as EP President, most recently as Head of Cabinet and Public Relations. In a statement, the EU Parliament said on 29 August: "Over the past few years, Tabone has led various teams within the cabinet, including leading a transparency reform and coordinating the President's engagement with the European public in the run-up to the European Parliament elections last June.
Tabone is the grandson of former Maltese President Censu Tabone. Leticia Zuleta De Reales Ansaldo, Tabone's predecessor, is now the Director of Relations with National Parliaments in the European Parliament. Former Maltese Labour MEP Rosianne Cutajar described the appointment as "nepotism". "Of course, the opposition, the paladins of ethics and the so-called independent media have remained deafeningly silent in the face of this blatant nepotism," said the politician.
"Metsola had already tried to promote him to chief of staff during the Qatargate scandal and had encountered strong resistance, but after the election she did not care and appointed him anyway." Frank Furedi, director of MCC Brussels, was more laconic: "Why not? The EU oligarchs like to keep it in the family," he said.
Tabone's appointment is not the first time Metsola has made a controversial appointment. In 2022, she also promoted Alessandro Chiocchetti, her then chief of staff, to the powerful post of Parliament's secretary-general, whose office oversees the institution's work. Opponents of that appointment accused her of nepotism and collusion to keep top positions in the hands of the European People's Party in Parliament. The EP president countered, saying it was "the most open procedure in the history of the institution."
Metsola is from Malta and is said to have ambitions to return to national politics in the 2027 parliamentary elections. She achieved a good result in the EU parliamentary elections and is considered a leading candidate in the fight against the Socialists who are in power on the Mediterranean island.
Malta has been rocked by numerous political scandals in recent years. Senior Maltese officials such as former Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi and Prime Minister's Chief of Staff Keith Schembri [both Socialists] were implicated in the 2016 Panama Papers scandal. Both pleaded not guilty. On December 22, 2021, Konrad Mizzi, Keith Schembri and their immediate family members were sanctioned by the United States Department of State for their involvement in "significant corruption."
In 2017, investigative journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, who had reported on government corruption, was killed in a car bomb attack. The island also had a "golden passport" system in which the government sold citizenship to wealthy foreigners without adequately vetting them, it was reported. Former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat [also a socialist] was forced to resign following protests over his government's handling of the investigation into Caruana Galizia's death.
Along with Mizzi and Schembri, he was also charged with money laundering, corruption, bribery and other charges related to a deal to privatise three state hospitals. The same deal also involves former Malta Deputy Prime Minister Chris Fearne, whose hopes of becoming an EU Commissioner were dashed. Fearne says he is innocent.
Caruana Galizia had also accused Adrian Delia, the former leader of the Metsola Nationalist Party, of having links to a London-based prostitution business, which he denied.
Source: Tichys Einblick
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