George Hyzler passed the first stage of his European Court of Auditors grilling with flying colours on Thursday, with 25 out of 28 members of the European Parliament’s CONT committee approving his nomination.

He was nominated to take the post by the government last January, and formal approval is expected by the European Parliament in May.

Hyzler, whose non-renewable term as Standards Commissioner was up in 2023, was the man behind a number of damning reports into ethics breaches by government MPs and ministers – reports which led to the resignation of two members of Cabinet in the form of Rosianne Cutajar and Justyne Caruana.

Other politicians such as former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat were also found to have breached ethics by Hyzler.

His work has found criticism from the government – keeping in mind that it was the Labour government which appointed him in the first place – with PL Whip Glenn Bedingfield last year being one of Hyzler’s critics, claiming that the Standards Commissioner was not doing his job properly.

This was at a time when Hyzler found that then-Minister Carmelo Abela had breached ethics by using public funds to commission an advert which was personal promotion.  That report was subsequently not adopted, after Speaker Anglu Farrugia decided that he would abstain from a committee vote.

In the midst of this debacle, Bedingfield frequently criticised Hyzler, saying that the government should not have appointed a former MP to the post (Hyzler served as a PN MP, and member of Cabinet between 1998 and 2003) and that the Standards Commissioner had been hypocritical in the standards he went by when employing members of his staff.

One could argue that such criticism may have – at least in part – been the source of discontent that there was actually an independent institution standing up to the PL government’s failings when it comes to accountability and good governance.

It’s that same source of discontent that made people think that Hyzler’s nomination to the European Court of Auditors to replace Leo Brincat was simply a convenient means used by the government to push him away from the role where he has uncovered much wrongdoing in some of the PL’s MPs.

Prime Minister Robert Abela insisted that this was not the case when questioned about it earlier this year, but the fact remains that Hyzler’s term is being cut short by a whole year.

All eyes will now inevitably turn towards who will succeed Hyzler.  The Standards Commissioner is appointed by Parliament, and can only be appointed after at least two-thirds of the Parliament agree on the candidate – meaning that both the PL and the PN need to agree.

In theory, that means that Hyzler’s successor would be someone who will not act as the government’s gatekeeper.

One however hopes that we will not see a repeat of the ongoing saga with regards to the Ombudsman:  the current Ombudsman’s term closed over a year ago, but his successor is yet to be named as the PN and PL squabble between themselves on who the ideal candidate is.

Like Malta can ill afford to not have an Ombudsman, it definitely cannot afford to have a Standards Commissioner who will act as (another) government gatekeeper or to not have a Standards Commissioner at all.

It remains to be seen whether the government will opt for some party loyalist, or whether it will opt for someone who will actually do the job at hand properly.

What is certain is that this will be one of the first real governance tests for the PL in this legislature.