Government nominates former PN Balzan mayor as ambassador to Romania

Notary Ian Spiteri, the former popular Nationalist mayor of Balzan, who resigned from his post in 2021 for “personal reasons”, has been nominated by the government to become Malta’s non-resident ambassador to Romania, The Shift is informed.

Spiteri, from a staunch Nationalist Naxxar family and whose grandfather was a popular minister in the 1960s George Borg Olivier administrations, has little diplomatic experience.

Spiteri will be joining Anne Marie Muscat Fenech Adami, the Nationalist Naxxar mayor who was recently embroiled in political controversy after defying party orders to resign.

She was later cautioned by a party disciplinary board for “some shortcomings” over a conflict of interest in development plans for two apartment buildings at the former Trade Fair Grounds that the local council approved.

Muscat Fenech Adami is also being nominated for a non-resident ambassadorial post to Bulgaria.

Non-resident ambassadors do not hold significant importance within the diplomatic corps.

However, such nominations are usually seen as token rewards for people close to the government or in recognition of retired career diplomats. They are normally given a remuneration of some €5,000 a year and working visits to their representative countries are also paid for

Other names on the list of new non-resident ambassadors the government is seeking to have approved by parliament’s Public Appointments Committee include former Nationalist MP Ray Bondin, proposed for the non-resident ambassadorship for Pakistan, and Lino Bianco, a university lecturer and former Labour MEP election candidate (Bosnia & Herzegovina).

Also up for approval are Prof Charles Mifsud (Argentina), a close collaborator of former minister Evarist Bartolo, and lawyer Noel Camilleri (Georgia), who holds a number of public positions including that as a substitute at the Information and Data Protection Appeals Tribunal. Camilleri also works closely with the legal offices of former Nationalist Minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici.

The committee’s approval is a formality since the government commands the majority of its votes.