Ministerial portfolios still being finalised

Ministerial portfolios are still being finalised after last weekend’s Cabinet reshuffle, which also included the creation of three new ministries.

Cabinet secretary Mario Cutajar, who is also principal permanent secretary, said the distribution of responsibilities and relevant government entities was expected to be finalised in the coming days.

He was speaking on One TV’s Follow Up on Monday night with reference to the behind-the-scenes work currently being undertaken by the civil service to affect the relevant administrative changes resulting from the reshuffle.

Cutajar said that given the extent of the exercise, a separate undertaking was underway to pair the line items in the budget with the relevant ministries before Budget 2021 is put to the final vote in parliament.

Prime Minister Robert Abela reshuffled his Cabinet last Saturday, expanding the list of ministries by three.

The elderly now have a specific ministry run by Michael Farrugia dedicated to them. This sector previously fell in the remit of former parliamentary secretary Silvio Parnis within the Solidarity Ministry. Parnis no longer forms part of Cabinet.

Another new ministry is the one awarded to former tourism minister Julia Farrugia Portelli, who now captains the ministry for inclusion and quality of life. The ministry encompasses disability, which previously fell in Parnis’s remit and the parliamentary secretariat for sports run by Clifton Grima, who was retained.

The third new ministry is that awarded to former education minister Owen Bonnici, who now is in charge of research and innovation.

But apart from these significant additions, Abela’s reshuffle also included some changes to the responsibilities of other ministries. Notably, newcomer Miriam Dalli will have Malta Enterprise within her remit that includes energy and sustainable development.

Another change was the transfer of the parliamentary secretariat for construction run by Chris Agius, from Ian Borg’s infrastructure ministry to Aaron Farrugia’s environment ministry.

The Economy Ministry run by Silvio Schembri lost Malta Enterprise but gained the Lands Authority from Borg and the financial services sector previously under the remit of former parliamentary secretary Clayton Bartolo, who is now tourism minister.

All these changes and others will have to be reflected in the finalised portfolios.