Episode 90: Sowing seeds in the EU for future success

In a 30-minute special edition #FinTalks podcast, FinanceMalta had the unique opportunity to sit down with Ambassador Marlene Bonnici, the Permanent Representative of Malta to the European Union. Join us as we discuss the role of the permanent representation in Brussels and the importance of consensus building.

Speaker Bio:

Ambassador Marlene Bonnici has been in office as the Permanent Representative of Malta to the European Union since July 2020. She also served in the same office between July 2012 and July 2018 and led the first Maltese Presidency of the EU Council in 2017. She is the first Maltese female diplomat to occupy the position (twice) of Permanent Representative of Malta to the European Union. Ambassador Bonnici is a seasoned career diplomat. Prior to returning to Brussels in July 2020, she served as Ambassador to Germany as well as Ambassador to the Kingdom of the Netherlands and to the International Organisations based at The Hague. During the same period, Bonnici was also acting as the Permanent Representative of Malta to the OPCW. Ambassador Bonnici has also served in key senior positions within the Government of the Republic of Malta, most of which relate to Malta-EU relations. Prior to her posting to Brussels in 2012, her name was synonymous with the management of EU funds in Malta, starting in 1999 as a Counsellor and Executive Secretary of the EU Assistance Coordination Task Force dealing with the Malta-EU Protocols and the first pre-accession instruments. In 2001 she set up the directorate to manage EU Structural and Cohesion Funds within the Office of the Prime Minister. In 2004 she became the Director General of the Planning and Priorities Co-Ordination Division and in 2011 she became Permanent Secretary for EU funds at the Office of the Prime Minister – responsible for the co-ordination of all EU Funds and other external financial instruments. Prior to that she served as a diplomat in the Embassies of Malta in Bonn and Brussels. Ambassador Bonnici’s career began in 1989 as a Teacher of German within the Ministry for Education in ​Malta.