Glenn Micallef ‘Honoured’ By EU Portfolio And Dismisses Concerns It Is Weak
Glenn Micallef has dismissed concerns that he has been granted a weak EU portfolio and said he is honoured to be entrusted with youth, inter-generational fairness, culture and sport.
“The portfolio includes a wide range of initiatives, including programmes, which are crucial for the wellbeing of EU citizens, the rich cultural heritage of EU Member States, and the future of our Union,” Micallef told Lovin Malta.
“These are extremely important areas which have a direct impact on people’s everyday lives.”
Some EU observers have warned that Micallef, a former OPM head of secretariat, has been granted one of the weakest portfolios in Von der Leyen’s proposed new Cabinet for the next five years in terms of EU power.
When announcing the proposed Cabinet, Van der Leyen placed Micallef at the very bottom of the chart along with Luxembourg’s Christophe Hansen, the designate Commissioner for Agriculture and Food.
In the most recent Commission, the culture and youth portfolios were grouped along with innovation, research and education, under the remit of Bulgaria’s Iliana Ivanova.
However, research and innovation have now been grouped with startups, under Bulgaria’s Ekaterina Zaharieva, while education has been added with skills, quality jobs and social rights, under Romania’s Roxana Mînzatu, who has also been nominated as one of six executive vice-presidents.
Sport and inter-generational fairness weren’t included in the portfolios of Von der Leyen’s previous Cabinet.
In her political guidelines for the new Commission last July, von der Leyen announced that she plans to appoint a Commissioner for intergenerational fairness “to ensure that decisions taken today do not harm to future generations and that there is increased solidarity and engagement between people of different ages.”
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