Agius Galea Says He Could Have Used Better Words

Culture Minister Malcolm Paul Agius Galea said he “could have used better words” after leaked remarks about artists prompted calls for his resignation, Times of Malta reported.

The remarks that triggered the backlash were not stray muttering. In the recording leaked to the paper, Agius Galea described his first four months in office as “traumatic”, questioned artists’ reliance on public funding and warned that creative ideas could negatively influence audiences. He also said creativity must adhere to certain “norms” and that artists should recognise the difference between right and wrong.

On Wednesday, speaking to Malta Daily in comments cited by Times of Malta, the minister said the remarks were made in a closed environment with “policy thinkers” and were intended to provoke thought and produce new ideas. “Maybe I came across as being insensitive and maybe my remarks hurt the feelings of artists who work with their heart in this sector, as well as others whose livelihood depends on it,” he said. “Maybe I could have used better words.”

That is a form of concession, but a narrow one. What he offered was an admission about how he spoke and how it landed, not any announced change in policy or authority. The public fact here is limited but important: a minister facing demands to quit chose to defend his position in office and soften the language, not set out a new line for the culture brief.

Asked if he intended to resign, Agius Galea said he intended to shoulder responsibility “by working harder in the interests of all the people in the culture sector.” He said he would “put my head down” and “roll up my sleeves”.

The gap is the one ministers often leave for themselves. He answered a political challenge with a promise of effort. The anger described by Times of Malta is about something else: whether the person holding state authority over the sector regards artists with trust or with supervision first.

That dispute has already escaped the room where the remarks were made. Times of Malta said lobby groups demanded his resignation and that thousands signed a petition calling for it. Agius Galea’s public position, at least on this evidence, is that the problem was the wording.