PN MEP David Casa today expressed his surprise that Commissioner-designate Karmenu Vella voted in favour of Malta's accession to the EU.

In a meeting prior to Mr Vella's hearing this afternoon, Mr Casa questioned why Karmenu Vella had not attended the Parliamentary sitting in which Malta's EU accession treaty was voted on by MPs.

Mr Casa said that PN MEPs have 'defended' Mr Vella in the European People's Party as doubts have been raised about his political past andhis convictions on the EU. 

Former  Tourism Minister Karmenu Vella will face his EP hearing - or grilling - tomorrow at 2.30pm at the European Parliament in Brussels.

Mr Vella has been nominated as Commissioner designate for the Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries by the President of the European Commission, Jean Claude Juncker.

The former Minister will have to answer 45 questions put to him by members of three EP committees - Environment, Fisheries and Transport & Tourism. He has already replied in writing to several other questions sent to him last week.

Today's grilling, scheduled to start at 2.30pm, will kick-off with an initial 15-minute speech by Mr Vella. Then, 45 MEPs from all political groups, which are also members of the aforementioned committees, will submit their oral questions. MEPs are allowed one minute to ask their questions and the commissioner designate will be allowed two minutes to reply to each one. The EPP - the biggest political bloc in the European Parliament - will be allowed 15 questions. The S&D group will be allowed ten questions and the rest will be proportionately allocated between the smaller political groups.

At the end of the sitting Mr Vella will make his closing remarks and is also expected to address journalists.

Karmenu Vella's hearing will take place at the same time as Cecilia Malmström's. The incumbent Home Affairs Commissioner has been nominated for the trade portfolio. The 27 hearings, which will be streamed live, can take a maximum of three hours.

After the actual hearings, the responsible committees will then have to finalise their evaluation of the candidates within 24 hours. A separate evaluation report for each Commissioner-designate is sent to the Conference of Committee Chairs and to the Conference of Presidents of the EP, which, unless it decides to seek further information and following an exchange of views, declares the hearings closed.

The final vote on the whole European Commissioner as proposed by the President, Jean Claude Juncker, will be taken on 22 October in plenary, in Strasbourg. The vote will be taken by a simple majority roll-call. Any rejected candidates would have to replaced, otherwise the EP could veto the whole commission.

The Malta Independent online will be keeping its readers updated with live updates and video features.