This evening, the EPP Group decided to vote against the candidature of former Minister Leo Brincat to the European Court of Auditors. The EPP Group thinks that the Maltese government has a heavy baggage and the least it could have done is to nominate an independent and competent candidate, not a former Minister. 

The fact that the Maltese government chose to sell Maltese / EU citizenship, in a non-transparent way, raises big question marks. The way this government handled the Panama Papers scandal continues to cement our strong-held beliefs that this government is on the wrong track. These two episodes are doing untold damage to Malta's reputation and we cannot in our wildest dreams accept Mr Brincat as member of the European Court of Auditors, out of all institutions, as he was until recently part and parcel of this government. 

For the sake of Malta's interests we implore Prime Minister Joseph Muscat to see sense and nominate an independent and competent candidate.