National Order of Merit (Malta)
Maltese award
The National Order of Merit is a state order of the Republic of Malta. The order is divided into four grades that may be awarded to Maltese citizens.
The grade of Companion of Honour of the National Order of Merit is the highest honour that the government of Malta may confer upon its citizens. Citizens of other countries may be awarded the order on an honorary basis.
Recipients
The National Order of Merit pays tribute to Maltese citizens who distinguish themselves in different fields of endeavour. The motto of the Order is Virtute et Constantia. Only Maltese citizens are eligible to be appointed members of the Order. However, honorary membership may be conferred on foreign nationals who have distinguished themselves by their service in the promotion and fostering of international relations, or who have earned the respect and gratitude of the people of the Maltese Islands.
In addition to past and present presidents and prime ministers who are by virtue of their offices members of the National Order of Merit in the grade of Companion of Honour, there can be only three other members in this grade at any one time. In the other grades the maximum at any one time is twelve Companions, twenty Officers and one hundred Members.
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This entry incorporates text from “National Order of Merit (Malta)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.