Glenn Micallef has been approved as Malta's new European Commissioner.

It was not an easy feat to come through the grilling by Members of the European Parliament last Monday. They all came up with well-prepared questions, but Micallef was well-prepared too, and he has made it.

Of course, the College of Commissioners will still have to be officially approved later on, after the rest of the commissioners-designate are interviewed by the committees related to their respective portfolio. But the first hurdle has been passed by the Malta candidate.

During his three-hour grilling, Micallef was composed, clear in his answers, and exposed a detailed knowledge of what is happening within the European Union - he kept on dishing out statistics from the top of his head without as much as looking at a paper. His idea to answer one of the questions in his native tongue, Maltese, was a good stunt too.

There was so much scepticism about him in European circles when Prime Minister Robert Abela picked him for the post. It must be remembered that Micallef was not the first choice the PM made. His original decision had been to send his then second-in-command Chris Fearne, so much so that in January Abela had carried out a Cabinet reshuffle to allow for Fearne to prepare. But the conclusion of the magisterial inquiry into the hospitals' deal put Fearne in hot water and now the former Health Minister is criminally charged in connection with the now-rescinded transfer of St Luke's, Karen Grech and Gozo General hospitals to the private sector.

Right until the last moment, international media were reporting that Micallef was among the commissioners-designate who were risking the most. He was young, never occupied a ministerial post and to many he did not have the necessary experience for the job. His portfolio - Intergenerational fairness, youth, culture and sport - is considered as a lightweight responsibility, a far cry from the post of Commissioner for the Mediterranean which Abela suggested and lobbied for.

But it is possible that this that helped Micallef make it past the hurdle of the grilling. It would have probably been an altogether different story if European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen had picked Micallef to cover a portfolio where the budget is much bigger and the responsibilities much higher. The post he has been assigned is similar to what a Prime Minister of a country would do to an up-and-coming politician having the first contact with the political world.

In Malta, the responsibility for sport, youth and culture are always handed over by prime ministers to young MPs who were having their first experience in public administration. In this respect, Micallef has been allocated a portfolio which is not considered as troublesome as many of the others that von der Leyen assigned.

Apart from this, Micallef has also been given intergenerational fairness, a subject that deserves attention given the fast advances in technology which often create a disparity between older and younger generations.

Micallef has a job to do, and at the end of the five years he will be judged. Hopefully, he will leave the sector he is responsible for in a much better state.

We wish him well.