New head for Malta's EP office

Peter Agius is the new Head of the European Parliament Office in Malta.

Dr Agius is a European official who has been working with the Council of Ministers in Brussels for the past 10 years. His duties in the Council involved participation in the negotiations with the European Parliament on internal market legislation.

He will be taking up office in July and will be replacing Julian Vassallo who led the office between 2006 and 2011, and Massimo Farrugia who has been acting head since mid-2011.

''In my role of assisting the Council in negotiations over the past years I have witnessed first-hand the commitment of the members of the European Parliament in delivering upon the aspirations of their constituencies, the European citizens. In this process I have also noticed how the European Parliament frequently encourages the other European institutions to be more bold in their ambitions for Europe,'' Dr Agius said.

Mr Agius, 33, read Law at the University of Malta where he graduated in 2000 (LL.B.) and 2003 (LL.D.). In 2006 he graduated Masters in European Law at the Université Libre de Bruxelles. In 2002 he joined the legal services of the Council of the European Union in Brussels.

His first tasks in the Council included the revision of the Maltese version of the EU Treaties. In 2010 he published a textbook on the translation of European law into the Maltese language.

Dr Agius was assigned the role of political advisor to the presidencies of the Council in 2008, a role which put him in charge of assisting in negotiations in dossiers related to the internal market including the services directive, the professional qualifications directive and on betting and gaming.

As of 2009, he has also assisted the office of Herman Van Rompuy, President of the European Council, on topics related to the internal market.

Since 2004, Dr Agius has addressed different fora as a visiting lecturer at the University of Malta. In other European capitals, he addressed government officials of forthcoming Presidencies of the Council on the EU's decision making process.

Dr Agius has published several opinion and research articles on European affairs.