Lorenzo Vella, who served as the head of the European Commission representation in Malta, has passed away after a serious illness.
Vella was 43 years old. He leaves to mourn his wife and two children.
Tributes were quick to pour in.
Prime Minister Robert Abela said that he was deeply saddened at the news, noting that Vella had given “impeccable service to the country and to the Labour Party in his youth.”
European Parliament President Roberta Metsola said that she was “heartbroken” at the news.
“In all his roles, whether as Malta's former Deputy Permanent Representative to the EU or as the Head of the European Commission in Malta, he distinguished himself as a leader, a diplomat and as a committed public servant,” she wrote on Facebook.
“I've known him since his days as an activist at University, arguing student motions and counter-motions to make this world a little bit better for everyone. In all our conversations since, he never lost sight of that aim, working tirelessly to bring people around the same table. He fought hard and bravely - always. I will miss him. Malta will miss him. Europe will miss him,” she said.
Former Deputy Prime Minister Chris Fearne, said that Vella had left far too soon. “In politics and life you find everything, and it’s not always easy to find men and women with integrity; but you were an example of how to be upstanding, competence, and seriousness. I’m already missing you,” Fearne wrote.
The Labour Party’s youth wing, of which Vella served as Secretary General between 2002 and 2003 and then again between 2004 and 2008, offered its condolences to Vella’s family.
The Nationalist Party also paid tribute in a separate statement, saying that Vella always served the diplomatic core with the righteousness that the role demands, and said that his loss will be felt in all European spheres.
From 2012 until 2014, Vella worked in the Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion (DG EMPL) of the European Commission as a Programme Manager, responsible for the overall monitoring of policy developments in Malta in relation to the priorities and objectives of Europe 2020 Strategy.
He also served as chief of staff to former Health Minister Chris Fearne, filling that post for just under one year at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, before being posted to Strasbourg as Malta’s Council of Europe representative in May 2021.
He was appointed as the Head of Malta’s European Commission representation, which is situated in Valletta, on 1 March 2023.
In 2016, he suffered injuries as a result of the terrorist attacks at the Brussels airport. Shrapnel from a bomb left Bella with fractures in his spinal cord at the time. He and his then-pregnant wife were standing around 10 metres away from the bomb blast as they waited at a check-in desk.
The Malta Independent on Sunday had carried an interview with Vella last October, during which he spoke about the various functions of his office.