The President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, appointed her son-in-law as head of the cabinet, the Brussels portal "Politiko" reported yesterday.
Matthew Tabone started working in the European Parliament for Metsola in 2013, and as Chief of Staff he will replace Leticia Zuleta de Reales Ansaldo, who now takes up the new role of Director of Relations with National Parliaments.
The decision by the head of the EP provoked strong reactions, including accusations of nepotism, especially from the Maltese MP Alex Agius Saliba of the Labor Party, which is a political rival of Metsola's Nationalist Party. On Facebook, Saliba described this appointment as "obvious nepotism" and asked how the public would react if someone from his party appointed a family member to such a high position.
Tabone has worked closely with Metsola for years, and married her sister in 2015, before Metsola became president of the European Parliament. In late 2022, Tabone was nominated for the role of Chief of Staff, but Metsola did not appoint him at the time due to the Cattergate scandal, an influence-buying scandal within the European Parliament.
Metsola has been criticized in the past for controversial appointments, including the promotion of Alessandro Ćoketti, her former chief of staff, to the position of secretary general of Parliament, which has sparked accusations of favoritism and secret political deals.
Metsola and her team claimed that they followed parliamentary procedure and that the process was the most open in the institution's history.
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