The President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola has appointed Matthew Tabone as the head of her office as President of the Institution.

He becomes the first Maltese person to hold this post.

Tabone joined the European Parliament in 2013 as head of President Metsola's MEP office, and has been part of her cabinet as Head of her Private Office and Public Relations since her election as President.

The EU Parliament statement read that "in the last years, Tabone has led different teams within the Cabinet, including managing a transparency reform and being tasked with the coordination of the President's engagement with the European public in the run up to the European Parliament elections last June."

Mr Tabone takes over from Leticia Zuleta De Reales Ansaldo who has taken up her post as Director for relations with National Parliaments within the European Parliament.

Tabone had, in 2023, been named by Politico as one of Brussels Top 40 most powerful people.

PL MEP Alex Agius Saliba, in a comment on Facebook, described the appointment as 'nepotism'.

"Imagine if I or some PL representative appointed a family member to the highest position in our office. Imagine how many stories, protests and calls for resignations there would be after we would be attacked for rampant nepotism."

"However they remain silent after Metsola appointed the husband of her sister as her Chief of Staff."