Joe Debono Grech (born 17 September 1939) was a Maltese politician. He was a Member of Parliament in the

House of Representatives of Malta The Parliament of Malta ( mt, Il-Parlament ta' Malta) is the constitutional Legislature, legislative body in Malta, located in Valletta. The parliament is Unicameralism, unicameral, with a democratically elected House of Representatives and the ...

Political life

Joseph Debono Grech started off in the Labour Party in 1959 both as a Secretary and also as a president of several branches of the party. In 1959 he was one of the founders of the ‘Brigata Laburista’. In 1967 he was appointed secretary of the Labour Youths and the representative in the bureau of I.U.S.Y. for the same committee. In 1969 he was elected Deputy Leader for party affairs. He contested the general elections for the first time in 1966 on the 13th and 8th district. He was elected in the Maltese Parliament in 1966 and in all subsequent elections until 2013. In 1983 he was appointed Minister of

Parastatal A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a government entity which is established or nationalised by the ''national government'' or ''provincial government'' by an executive order or an act of legislation in order to earn profit for the government ...

and People's Investments and later held the Agriculture and Fisheries portfolio for four years until 1987. When Labour was reelected in 1996 he served as minister of Transport and Ports. From 2003 till 2008 he was the shadow minister for the

Malta International Airport Malta International Airport ( mt, L-Ajruport Internazzjonali ta' Malta, ) is the only airport in Malta and it serves the whole of the Maltese Islands. It is located on the island of Malta, southwest of the Maltese capital Valletta, in the town ...

and the country's security. He also worked in the General Workers Union as a Secretary for the Petrol, Chemical and General workers. Today he is a Labour MP on the government side. For many years he represented the Union in Gozo. He was a representative of the Labour Party in the Council of Europe and also a member of the Socialist Bureau in the Council of Europe, since 1998. He has been a member of the National Executive committee of the party since 1960.

References

Members of the House of Representatives of Malta 1939 births Living people Labour Party (Malta) politicians Government ministers of Malta 20th-century Maltese politicians 21st-century Maltese politicians {{Malta-politician-stub