Culture is the foundation of the EU’s future, say practitioners welcoming Micallef’s portfolio

Cultural activists in Malta have welcomed the appointment of Glenn Micallef to the Ursula von der Leyen Commission, whose portfolio will include arts, youth, sport and intergenerational justice.

At 35, Micallef was one of the youngest commissioners and the last of von der Leyen’s 27 commissioners whose portfolio was only a fraction of her wider education portfolio.

However, leading figures in the world of art and culture have questioned the headline in MaltaToday, which described the portfolio as politically “weak”.

In the outgoing commission, youth and sport were part of a larger portfolio under Iliana Ivanova of Bulgaria, which also included innovation, research, culture and education. Responsibility for education has now been handed to Vice President Roxana Mînzatu of Romania, while research and innovation have gone to Ekaterina Zaharieva of Bulgaria.

“This is not a weak portfolio,” said Toni Attard, an actor and creative consultant. “Given the rise of radicalism, disinformation, climate change and war, culture needs to play a more important role at EU level. This is not a weak portfolio. It is fundamental for the future of the European Union.”

Arts Councils’ head of strategy, Adrian Debattista, said Micallef’s appointment to the portfolio was particularly positive given the ongoing progress in cultural policy in Malta. “It signals more opportunities for culture to take a more central place on the EU’s social agenda,” he said on social media.

Creative practitioner Kris Polidano said the arts were an indicator of a higher quality of life that Malta needed and which could not be measured by standard GDP calculations.

“I call on Micallef to help us change this stifling mentality and make our communities aware that profit is not inherently proportional to value and that supporting these sectors can actually lead to a better Europe, sustainable in every respect.”

The head of the Malta Olympic Committee, Kevin Azzopardi, said it was an honour that a Maltese would be at the forefront of the European sports agenda. He received a similar honour, this time in the audiovisual sector, from the head of the Malta Film Commission, Johann Grech.

Over the last decade, the Labour administration has pledged to introduce an Artist Status Charter, cut income tax on the arts, create new rehearsal spaces, introduce a Culture Pass for under-25s and develop regional cultural strategies.

However, individual EU Member States are responsible for their own cultural policies, and the European Commission has the role of helping to address common challenges. These include the impact of digital technologies, changing models of cultural governance, and the need to support cultural and creative sectors in innovation.

The Commission also helps Member States to mitigate the negative impact of crises and challenges where a coordinated EU response could benefit.

In addition to the New European Agenda for Culture, the current EU Work Plan for Culture sets out four priorities for European cooperation in cultural policy-making: strengthening cultural and creative sectors, increasing participation in and the role of culture in society, unleashing the potential of culture for environmental well-being and strengthening the cultural dimension of the EU’s external relations.