New permanent secretary at OPM

Marlene Bonnici has been appointed permanent secretary (EU Funds) in the Office of the Prime Minister.

She will take up her appointment as Permanent Secretary on June 1.

Ms Bonnici joined the public service in 1989 as a teacher, after she obtained a first class degree in education from the University of Malta.

She then won a scholarship to the University of Oxford where she undertook post-graduate studies in international law, international trade and finance, international law and diplomatic studies.

In 1992 she joined Malta's Diplomatic Service and was posted as first secretary to the Maltese Embassy in Bonn and subsequently to the Maltese Embassy in Brussels.

In 1999 she returned to Malta and worked at the EU Directorate within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs where she was primarily responsible for the co-ordination of the Malta position on a number of Acquis Chapters, including regional policy as well as the pre-accession funding instruments and initiatives.

In 2001, Ms Bonnici was appointed director of the then newly established Regional Policy Directorate within the Office of the Prime Minister. She was responsible for the planning and co-ordination of a number of EU and bilateral financial instruments as well as the co-ordination of accession negotiations on regional policy.

In 2004, the directorate took on additional responsibilities and became the managing authority for Malta's Structural Funds as well as the national coordinator for a number of other financial instruments which were opened for Malta's participation, by virtue of its EU membership.

In the same year Ms Bonnici was appointed director general of the Planning and Priorities Co-Ordination Department as well as head of the managing authority, a position she held for the last seven years.

She has participated in a number of EU fora as a national expert on cohesion policy.

Ms Bonnici is married to Klaus-Dieter Frey and they have one daughter, Carla Maria.