George Abela

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George Abela (2010)

George Abela ( Maltese : Ġorġ Abela; born April 22, 1948 in Qormi ) is a Maltese politician (non-party, formerly Labor Party), former chairman of the Football Association (Malta Football Association (MFA)) from 1982 to 1992 and president from 2009 to 2014 from Malta.

biography

Activities in the trade union federation and football association

After attending the Primary School of Qormi and the Lyceum of Ħamrun , he began studying at the University of Malta in 1965 , which he initially completed with a Bachelor of Arts . He then completed a law degree , which ended in 1975 with his admission to the bar . He then worked as a notary and soon afterwards as legal advisor to the General Workers Union , where he had been involved in labor law cases for 25 years .

In addition to his professional career, he was initially president of the football club FC Qormi . In 1982 he was elected chairman of the Maltese Football Association; as such, he initiated significant changes. As part of the renovation of the infrastructure, such as the construction of training grounds, a sports hall and a psychotherapeutic clinic, floodlights were also installed for the first time . Furthermore, the players of the national soccer team were increasingly hired on a professional basis.

Vice Chairman and conflict with the Labor Party

After ten years as chairman of the football association, he resigned in 1992 and began his political career as deputy chairman of the Malta Labor Party . As a representative of the then newly elected chairman Alfred Sant , he was particularly responsible for party affairs. In the 1996 parliamentary election he was elected a member of the House of Representatives. Because of the Labor Party's victory in the elections, Prime Minister Sant appointed him his Legal Consultant, and so he also took part in cabinet meetings in this capacity. A year later, however, he resigned from legal advisor after disagreements with Sant.

In 1998 Abela resigned as deputy party chairman. The reason was his differing opinions on the decision of the party executive to hold early elections, which seemed necessary due to the parliamentary crisis. This led to the fact that he did not run again in the 1998 parliamentary election and left the House of Representatives as a member. As a result of this, his work as legal advisor to the trade union federation also ended in 2000. In the dispute with Sant, he later sought support from the former long-time prime minister and former Labor leader Dom Mintoff . As early as 2003, he showed interest in succeeding Sant as Labor chairman after the party's electoral defeat because of its opposition to joining the European Union .

Instead shifted Abela in 2000 his professional focus on acting as legal counsel for various government organizations such as the Environment and Planning Authority (Malta Environment and Planning Authority) and the control and action committee of Malta to the European Union (Malta European Union Steering Action Committee (MEUSEC)). He was also the legal advisor to four newly formed unions such as the Dockers Union (Dockers Union). These activities and his persistent public criticism of the union federation led to media speculation about a newly established affinity with the Nationalist Party government, and in particular with Prime Minister Edward Fenech Adami and the Minister of Justice and Local Government Austin Gatt .

These speculations probably also had a major impact on the primary election as the new leader of the Labor Party in 2008. After the resignation of party chairman Alfred Sant due to the narrow defeat in the parliamentary elections in 2008 , Abela applied for his successor as party chairman alongside Evarist Bartolo, Marie Louise Coleiro Preca, Michael Falzon and Joseph Muscat . In the runoff election after the first ballot, he reached second place with 291 votes and 33.64 percent after Muscat, who was elected as the new chairman of the Labor Party with 574 votes and 66.36 percent. Immediately afterwards, the newly elected party chairman invited him to work within the party, which led to the fact that he was now the Labor Party representative in the Maltese Steering and Action Committee for the European Union (MEUSEC).

Presidency

On January 12, 2009, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi announced that the government would propose George Abela for the office of President of Malta to succeed Edward Fenech Adamis , whose term ended on April 4, 2009. This was the first time in Maltese history that the government proposed a president from among the opposition . In preparation for his election as president, he then resigned his office as representative of the Labor Party at MEUSEC and resigned from the Labor Party.

On April 1, 2009, George Abela was elected by the House of Representatives to be the 8th President of the Republic of Malta, the election proposal being initiated by Prime Minister Gonzi and supported by opposition leader Muscat, with the vote in addition to Alfred Sant and three other MPs were absent. On April 4, 2009, Abela was sworn in by the Speaker of the House, Louis Galea . The Maltese Football Association was one of the first official well-wishers for the election as president.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ History of the Malta Football Association ( Memento of the original from September 27, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.mfa.com.mt
  2. ^ "George Abela defies Labor and befriends Mintoff" ( Memento from January 7, 2009 in the Internet Archive ), Malta Today , September 29, 2002.
  3. ^ "George Abela 'very possible' contender", THE MALDTA BUSINESS & FINANCIAL TIMES, April 16, 2003
  4. ^ "George Abela willing to contest MLP leadership election", TIMES OF MALTA March 14, 2008
  5. ^ "George Abela officially announces leadership bid", MALTA MEDIA NEWS April 13, 2008
  6. ↑ "MLP denies George Abela's claim on presidency", MALTA MEDIA NEWS April 30, 2008
  7. ^ "George Abela to represent Labor on MEUSAC", L-Erbgħa, July 23, 2008
  8. ^ House approves George Abela's nomination to become Malta's eighth President , Times of Malta , April 1, 2009
  9. ↑ rulers.org - April 1, 2009
  10. ↑ "Best wishes to Dr. George Abela, President of Malta ” , MFA homepage, April 6, 2009.
personal data
SURNAME Abela, George
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Abela, Ġorġ
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Maltese politician and football official; President of Malta (2009-2014)
DATE OF BIRTH April 22, 1948
PLACE OF BIRTH Qormi