Angelo "Anġlu" Farrugia (born 29 December 1955) is a Maltese politician and the current

Speaker of the House of Representatives of Malta The Speaker of the House of Representatives of Malta ( mt, Speaker tal-Kamra tad-Deputati ta' Malta) is the presiding officer of the House of Representatives of Malta. The Speaker is responsible for controlling the flow of House business and ac ...

. Previously he served Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

and Shadow Minister for work, workers' rights and parliamentary affairs.

Family

Farrugia was born in Mosta and is married to Carmen née Zammit and they have a daughter, Caroline, a current Magistrate within the

judiciary of Malta The judiciary of Malta interprets and applies the laws of Malta, to ensure equal justice under law, and to provide a mechanism for dispute resolution. The legal system of Malta is based partially on English law and partly on Continental law, wh ...

Political life

Prior to entering politics, Farrugia had served from 1977 to 1996 as a police officer reaching the rank of Superintendent. In 1987 Farrugia enrolled in the law course at the

University of Malta The University of Malta (, UM, formerly UOM) is a higher education institution in Malta. It offers undergraduate bachelor's degrees, postgraduate master's degrees and postgraduate doctorates. It is a member of the European University Association ...

, eventually obtaining the degrees of LL.D. and M.Jur. (magna cum laude). He was first elected to Parliament in 1996, and subsequently elected again in 1998, 2003 and 2008. He served on the House Committee of the Consideration of Bills as Chairman (1996–98) and as member (since 1998). Between 1998 and 2008 Farrugia served as Shadow Minister for Justice and in 2008 was elected Labour's Deputy Leader of Parliamentary Affairs. He was also appointed Opposition Spokesperson for Employment and Workers' Rights in the same year. Farrugia resigned as Deputy Leader in 2012 following comments he had made about a member of the judiciary. Farrugia subsequently announced his decision to not stand for the general election in 2013. In April 2013 he was nominated as Speaker of the House of Representatives, succeeding

Michael Frendo Michael Frendo (born 29 July 1955) is a former Maltese politician who currently is a lawyer and consultant. Previously he served in the government of Malta in various functions including as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2004 to 2008 and Spe ...

, and continues to hold the seat as part of the Thirteenth Legislature (2017-current).

Activities in international organisations

Farrugia was appointed as Head of Malta's

Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is the world's largest regional security-oriented intergovernmental organization with observer status at the United Nations. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control, prom ...

(OSCE) Parliamentary Assembly delegation in 1996.MLP deputy leader for parliamentary affairs election tomorrow: A race between three
Malta Independent, retrieved on 8 December 2010 He has since served on a number of EU and OSCE missions as an international observer for various elections, including

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(1999), the Presidential Election in Palestinian Authority (2004), the

2004 US Presidential Election The 2004 United States presidential election was the 55th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 2, 2004. The Republican ticket of incumbent President George W. Bush and his running mate incumbent Vice President Dick Chene ...

, the Montenegrin independence referendum (2006) and the Presidential and Parliamentary Elections in

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most cent ...

2006. He is also a member of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly's Standing Committee on Human Rights. In 2016, Farrugia was elected as the Chairperson of the Small Branches network of the

Commonwealth Parliamentary Association The Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA), previously known as the Empire Parliamentary Association, is an organisation which works to support good governance, democracy and human rights. In 1989 the patron of the CPA was the Head of ...

(CPA) for a three year term. The CPA Small Branches network represents those Parliaments and Legislatures in the Commonwealth with a population of less than 500,000 people. Farrugia's daughter has recently been nominated as a Magistrate serving in Malta's Law Courts. Many saw this move as a way by the current Labour Party to keep Farrugia happy after his negative comments addressed to his previous Party Leader, the former Labour Prime Minister Joseph Muscat.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Farrugia, Angelo Speakers of the House of Representatives of Malta Members of the House of Representatives of Malta 1955 births Living people Labour Party (Malta) politicians People from Mosta Maltese police officers 20th-century Maltese politicians 21st-century Maltese politicians University of Malta alumni