The Parliamentary Secretary for EU Presidency 2017 and EU Funds Dr. Ian Borg yesterday announced the apppointment of two persons who will be in charge of the political and logistical aspects respectively during Malta’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union between 1 January and 30 June 2017.

Speaking during the Adjournment of yesterday’s sitting of Parliament Dr. Borg said that the organisational structure responsible for Malta’s Presidency  of the EU Council will be based on three pillars namely political, logistical and communications.  Mr. Victor Camilleri will be responsible for the political pillar while Mr. Paul Mifsud will be responsible for the logistical pillar.  The person who will be responsible for the communications pillar will be announced in due course.

During the same sitting Dr. Borg informed the House that in conformity with the Labour Party’s electoral promise to organise Malta’s Presidency of the EU Council on a bipartisan level, he has invited formally the Opposition for talks on the various organisational aspects of this important event.  In this regard, Dr. Borg wrote formally to the Hon. Mr. Antoine Borg, the Opposistion’s Spokesman on the EU Presidency 2017 and EU Funds inviting him for bilateral talks. 

Mr. Paul Mifsud

Mr. Paul Mifsud has been appointed Executive Director responsible for Logistics. Mr. Mifsud has vast experience of the civil service following a career spanning more than 40 years.  He occupied several Headship positions including Director of the Department of Information, Airport Manager, Chief Executive Officer of the Mediterranean Conference Centre as well as Director General of the Courts of Justice.  For several years he held the post of Permanent Secretary working under different adminsitrations.  For five and a half years he held a senior position with the United Nations when he was appointed as Head of Secretariat of the Barcelona Convention based in Athens, Greece.  Mr. Mifsud is a graduate in Diplomatic Studies from the Academy of Diplomatic Studies of the University of Malta as well as in Political Studies.

Mr. Victor Camilleri

Mr. Victor Camilleri has been appointed Executive Director responsible for Programming and Training. He has a long career in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs spanning more than 45 years. He started his career as Second Secretary and ended as an Ambassador.  During his career he served as an ambassador in various embassies including Rome, Brussels, New York, London, Geneve and Libya.  He was also Ambassador to the CSCE in Stockholm, to UNESCO in Paris and UNIDO in Vienna, to the United Nations in New York and Geneva. He was also ambassador to the European Unon in Brussels where he served before and during Malta’s negotiations to join the European Union. Between 1993 and 1996 Mr. Camilleri was  the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  He also served as Chef de Cabinet to the President of the General Assembly of the United Nations when this position was occupied by the then Foreign Minister of Malta the late Prof. Guido Demarco.