Most of the €8 million budget for Malta’s presidency of the Council of Europe will be spent on ‘policy events’ scheduled to take place in Malta and Strasbourg over the six-month term.
In May 2025, Malta will assume the presidency of the Council of Europe, marking its fourth term as president in nearly six decades of membership.
Last month, Times of Malta reported that the government had allocated €7.8 million for the six-month event, more than double the €3.5 million for Malta’s year-long Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) presidency.
Unlike the OSCE, which featured high-level meetings between diplomats and ministers, the CoE events will focus on the public. Replying to questions sent by Times of Malta, a Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson explained that most of the budget will go towards policy programme events hosted both in Malta and in Strasbourg.
“Around 55 per cent of the budget is earmarked to be invested in the policy events planned to take place in Malta,” the spokesperson explained.
The allocation includes the organisation of three ministerial conferences on the protection of justice, the protection of children and youth empowerment. The budget is also allocated to another five “high-level conferences” and 12 other policy events.
The presidency will host several conferences and training seminars on topics such as media literacy, human trafficking and safeguarding LGBTI rights. The spokesperson explained how the budget will also include “cultural side events” for ministerial and high-level conferences, and cover the procurement of necessary products and services.
Around 45 per cent of the costs will go towards investing in the policy events held in Strasbourg, including an opening and closing ceremony. All necessary travel and accommodation costs of the participants will be included.
Policy events include the celebration of the 75th anniversary of the European Convention on Human Rights, the Octopus Conference on Cybercrime, and youth training sessions on peace education and peacebuilding.
The spokesperson explained how the budget for the presidency also includes an allocation for persons who may need to be temporarily engaged for this presidency. They will be hired through service contracts.
Questions raised over budget
While the spokesperson said the presidency will serve as an “excellent opportunity” to build stronger relations with the Council of Europe, some were sceptical about the costs.
The €8 million budget allocation for the Council of Europe presidency will encompass various presidency-linked events, which would traditionally have been listed as expenditures for different ministries. However, a decision was taken to combine those costs together under a single line item in the Budget 2025 financial estimates, a ministerial source said.
Council of Europe president nations traditionally organise a series of public events centred on the presidency’s themes, and we will be no different
Two separate sources within the ministry argued that the Council of Europe presidency could not be directly compared to the OSCE one, citing two key differences.
“The OSCE is more focused on strictly diplomatic matters,” one source said.
“Council of Europe president nations traditionally organise a series of public events centred on the presidency’s themes, and we will be no different.”
Another said it was also difficult to compare spending on the two events because Malta was appointed OSCE president at the last minute when Russia vetoed Estonia’s bid. That meant the country had no time to prepare for the event and had to focus on the bare essentials, the source said.
The Council of Europe is widely considered to be the largest human rights organisation in Europe, focusing on democracy, human rights and upholding the rule of law.
The Committee of Ministers is made up of foreign ministers from each member country. Its presidency works on a rotating basis, with each European state holding the presidency for a six-month period, in strict alphabetical order.