Malta to mobilise €50 million ERDF funds for businesses

Deputy PM Louis Grech calls for the consideration of EU member states' needs with regards to taxation systems, saying that a 'one size fits all' approach does not benefit everyone

Malta will be mobilising some €50 million under the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) to launch additional incentives for business start-ups and for operators to consolidate, modernise and expand their operations. This fund will add to the €60 million SME initiative that was launched earlier this year which will help SME’s over the next five years. 

The announcement was made during a conference entitled “Industrial Policy – is it relevant?”, which was hosted by the European Economic and Social Committee Employers Group.

Deputy Prime Minister Louis Grech, who was addressing the conference, said yesterday that Malta’s economy continued to perform better than the EU average. Future indications are also positive and the government is putting all its efforts in the industrial sector, where it is targeting a number of new niches, some of which are already yielding results. 

These niches include industries such as logistics, filming, digital creativity, life sciences and advanced precision engineering. Grech stressed that the government will continue to support current niches.

"Malta agrees with one of the UK’s suggestion to the EU, that of the need for overall flexibility,” he said. The EU needs to consider that Member State needs’ are such that one size does not fit all, and that it is high time that there is a review of old definitions, formulae and rules.

There must be real flexibility, Grech stressed. This must extent both to those who are inside and those outside the Euro-Zone and Schengen Areas. It is essentially important for a country like Malta to retain control of its own taxation system, as that has been, and will remain an important tool to drive the economy and national wealth upwards.

Grech said that the EU Industrial Policy in itself is relevant, but the EU still has too many obstacles, fragmented regulations and poor transposition. This will impede citizens and SME’s that are wishing to trade across borders with the same security and confidence that they enjoy in their own member states.

Grech thanked the Chamber of Commerce for producing an excellent document called “An industrial policy for Malta” and said that the Government has taken on board the need for overall competitiveness. There is more that needs to be done, particularly on the  need to minimise bureaucracy, and on infrastructure which will be addressed.