An agency set to take over the Valletta 2018 Foundation has already been entrusted to handle Malta’s application to host the European Cultural Capital for the second time in 2031.
The Valletta Cultural Agency was assigned the task through a legal notice published a few days before Prime Minister Joseph Muscat floated the idea of nominating the sister island for this prestigious status.
However, such a title can only be regained in 13 years’ time, in line with a joint decision made in 2014 by the European Parliament and the European Council, which established the calendar of eligible candidate countries.
“I believe Gozo should be nominated to become European Cultural Capital. This would be a huge opportunity to place Gozo on top of the agenda through a major infrastructural and cultural investment,” Dr Muscat said when addressing the Labour Party’s last political activity of the year in Fgura.
“In the same way we transformed our capital from a moribund city to a vibrant centre, we can also turn Gozo into one of the best projects ever implemented in our country,” he added.
According to LN 427, published on December 12, the agency’s prime function is “to carry forward the legacy” of the V18 Foundation.
Moreover, part of its remit will be “to coordinate the bidding process for the next Capital City of Culture for the Maltese Islands”.
Other functions of the agency will be to draw up and oversee the implementation of a cultural plan for Valletta and develop a programme with other public cultural organisations. The administration of funding programmes and budgets to assist artists based in the capital will also be within the entity’s remit. It will also be em-powered to commission temporary works of art for public buildings and sites in Valletta.
Gozo should be nominated
Prior to the publication of the legal notice, Culture Minister Owen Bonnici had already announced that V18 chairman Jason Micallef would be at the helm of this new agency.
In this respect, the legal notice outlines the entity’s organisational structure, which shall consist of a board having not less than four and not more than 10 voting members, apart from the chair. All of the members will be appointed directly by the (culture) minister for a three-year period.
The board is bound by law to issue a call for applications if it decides to engage a chief executive officer. In such case, the CEO would not have voting rights on the board but would be vested with the legal and judicial representation of the agency.
Apart from the CEO, the legal notice also allows the recruitment of employees.
For the entity to be up and running, the minister has to publish an order in The Malta Government Gazette. No such announcement is known to have been made so far and questions on this and other matters sent to the ministry a week ago remain unanswered. No information was given on who will be the other board members.
Questions were also made about Mr Micallef, in view of the potential conflict of interest his other role at the Labour Party’s media company, One Production Limited, could pose.
In this respect, the legal notice states clearly that any candidate who “has a financial or other interest in any enterprise or activity which is likely to affect the discharge of these functions” shall not qualify to become chairman, unless a written waiver by the minister is published in The Malta Government Gazette.
The Prime Minister had told the Times of Malta in 2013 that Mr Micallef would have to relinquish his post at One Production Limited, to take up the job at the V18 Foundation on full-time basis.