Tonio Borg Likely Replacement for European Commission's Dalli

It's official: Tonio Borg has been nominated as the successor to EU Health Commissioner John Dalli, who resigned last month after a scandal involving his agency's treatment of pending tobacco legislation, and will appear before EU legislators in several days for a hearing.

Under European Commission (EC) rules, the replacement to a relinquished post must go to a person from the same country. Borg, a native of Malta like Dalli, currently serves as the country's deputy prime minister and minister of foreign affairs.

Borg is now set to appear before the European Parliament's Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) on 13 November 2012 for a hearing regarding his views. The parliament does not have a say in Borg's nomination to the post, but in the wake of Dalli's resignation may be in the mood to grill him on his views on smoking and other healthcare topics. As commissioner, Borg would oversee a number of high-profile regulatory overhauls, including the EU's clinical trials directive and pending changes to the way medical devices are regulated.