George Abela

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

Biography

Activities in the Trade Union Confederation and Football Association

After attending primary school (Primary School) Qormi and the Lyceum of Ħamrun he began in 1965 to study at the University of Malta, which he first graduated with a Bachelor of Arts. He then completed a degree in Law, in 1975 with his admission to the bar ended. He then worked as a notary and soon worked as legal counsel of the Trade Union Confederation General Workers Union, where he oversaw 25 years employment law cases.

In addition to his professional career, he was first president of the football club FC Qormi. In 1982 he was elected Chairman of the Maltese Football Association; as such, he ushered in significant changes. As part of the infrastructure such as the construction of training courses, a sports hall and a psychotherapeutic clinic renovation and floodlights were erected for the first time. Furthermore, the players of the national football team became increasingly committed to professional basis.

Deputy Chairman and conflict with the Labour 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 Labour Party. As representatives of the then newly elected chairman Alfred Sant also he was in particular responsible for party affairs. In the parliamentary election in 1996 he was elected as Members of the House of Representatives. Due to the electoral victory of the Labour Party Prime Minister Sant summoned him to his legal counsel ( Legal Consultant ) and so he took in this function also attend meetings of the Cabinet. However, one year later he resigned after disagreements with Sant by the Office of the Legal Adviser.

1998 Abela resigned as deputy chairman of the party. Reason was his different opinion on the decision of the party executive for holding early elections, which seemed necessary due to the parliamentary crisis. This meant that he decided not to run again in the parliamentary election in 1998 and retired as a Member of the House of Representatives. Because of this, it came in 2000 in addition for ending his work as legal counsel of the Federation of Trade Unions. In the dispute with Sant he later sought thereby supporting the previous long-standing prime minister and former Labour leader Dom Mintoff. As early as 2003 he showed interest in doing a follow-up of Sant as Labour chairman after the election defeat of the party because of their opposition to the accession to the European Union.

Instead shifted Abela 2000 his professional focus on the work 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 Malta to the European Union (Malta European Union Steering Action Committee ( MEUSEC ) ). He also was a lawyer of four newly established trade unions such as the Dockers' Union (Malta Dockers Union). These activities and its persistent public criticism of the Trade Union Confederation led to media speculation about a newly launched affinity to the Government of the Nationalist Party and in particular to Prime Minister Edward Fenech Adami and Minister for Justice and Local Government thereby Austin Gatt

These speculations were probably 2008 also great influence on the primary election as the new Chairman of the Labour Party. Following the resignation of party leader Alfred Sant due to the narrow election defeat in the parliamentary elections of 2008, Marie Louise Abela Coleiro Preca, Michael Falzon and Joseph Muscat competed alongside Evarist Bartolo to its successor as party leader. In the runoff after the first ballot, he reached the second place after Muscat, who was elected with 574 votes and 66.36 percent as the new Chairman of the Labour Party with 291 votes and 33.64 percent. The newly elected party chairman invited him immediately to cooperate within the party one, which meant that he was now the representative of the Labour Party in control and action committee Malta to the European Union ( MEUSEC ).

Presidency

January 12, 2009 Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi announced that the government would suggest George Abela for the office of President of Malta Edward Fenech Adami as a successor whose term ended on April 4, 2009. This was the first time in Maltese history that the government proposed a president from the ranks of the opposition. In preparation for his election as President, he then submitted his office as representative of the Labour Party in MEUSEC and resigned from the Labour Party.

On 1 April 2009 George Abela was elected by the House of Representatives for the 8th President of the Republic of Malta, the nomination of Prime Minister Gonzi was initiated and supported by the opposition leader Muscat, wherein the match next to Alfred Sant also three other deputies were absent. On 4 April 2009, Abela was sworn in then by Parliament President ( Speaker of the House) Louis Galea. One of the first official congratulations on his election as President of this included the Maltese Football Association.

Swell

• Website of the President of Malta
• Biography of the Maltese Department of Information
• Biography