Published: 12:30 AM, 09 September 2026 Last Update: 12:41 AM, 09 September 2026
Anġlu Farrugia receives Commonwealth lifetime achievement award
Former Speaker Anġlu Farrugia is to receive the Commonwealth Parliamentarian of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award for his “long-standing contribution to parliamentary democracy”.
Malta’s longest-serving speaker, in office from April 2013 until April 2026, Farrugia will formally receive the honour during the Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference in Cape Town next week.
The award recognises Farrugia’s “distinguished parliamentary career and long-standing contribution to parliamentary democracy, good governance and public service”.
The judging panel said it was “particularly impressed” by his record as a parliamentarian, his contribution to strengthening democratic institutions and good governance, and the “lasting impact of your work within parliament and across the Commonwealth”.
Farrugia is the first Maltese politician to receive the award.
Speaking to Times of Malta, Farrugia said being the first Maltese recipient “meant a lot” to him and was “an honour”.
“I really appreciate that at the end of my tenure I am being recognised internationally,” Farrugia said.
During his 13 years in the chair, Farrugia delivered 288 rulings, presided over major institutional reforms, strengthened Parliament’s administrative and financial autonomy, widened its committee structure, supported Parliament TV as a free-to-air service, and promoted parliamentary discipline, accessibility and public accountability.
Internationally, he was the first chairperson of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association Small Branches, led its first strategic planning process, advanced the Valletta Strategy and climate resilience programme, and supported the development of Commonwealth public accounts cooperation.
Within the Inter-Parliamentary Union, he served as president of the Committee to Promote Respect for International Humanitarian Law and as a member of the task force on the peaceful resolution of the war in Ukraine.
