The government has set aside a budget of €48 million for Valletta 2018, spread over nine years from 2012 to 2020.

Answering parliamentary questions by Francis Zammit Dimech (PN), Tourism Minister Karmenu Vella said the budget had been agreed with the European Commission and its committee of experts.

As set out in the candidature booklet which the V18 Foundation had submitted in September 2012 to the selection committee, the foundation’s expenses and those of the cultural and government entities helping it to prepare for the big event were being distributed over three primary sectors.

Mr Vella said these covered administration, programming and communications.

More than half the budget would go to programming, about a third to administration, and between 10 per cent and 15 per cent to communications.

Work on activities, participation and cultural acumen within the community, jointly with the cultural and creative sectors, were the priorities in the government’s action plans. The guidelines and criteria of existent public funds through which a number of projects were going ahead could be seen on electronic websites.

Expert and independent evaluators would be selecting beneficiaries according to those criteria.

Mr Vella said that an artistic director for Valletta 2018 would be selected “at the opportune time” as decided by the Valletta 2018 Foundation.