Embrace change and the opportunities it brings, Metsola tells Maltese businesses

President Roberta Metsola says small and medium enterprises are the backbone of the Maltese and European economy

European Parliament President Roberta Metsola
European Parliament President Roberta Metsola

Maltese businesses need to embrace change and the opportunities it brings, European Parliament President Roberta Metsola has said.

“Without change, we will stagnate: as an economy, as a country and as a Union. You who

have invested all your energy and resources into creating something new and innovative, you who have sacrificed everything you have for your business, it is you that has every potential and all the stamina it takes to come out of this period stronger, perhaps more than ever before,” she said.

Metsola was addressing the conference ‘Navigating EU Direct Funds - Unlocking Financial Opportunities for Business,’ a joint partnership between the Malta Business Bureau (MBB) and the Malta Council for Science and Technology (MCST), as part of their implementation of the EU Project (SMP) Enterprise Europe Network (2022-2025).   

Roberta Metsola said small and medium enterprises are the backbone of the Maltese and European economy, and play a key role in not only boosting the country’s competitiveness,

but also provide jobs to more than half of the working population.

“It was the European Parliament that advocated for SME participation in the implementation of the Recovery and Resilience Facility - the European Union’s largest financing instrument to date,” she said. “But what makes the RRF so historic, is the clever shift from a cost-based approach to a performance-based approach.”

The EP president said the idea is to not only help the Maltese economy recover after the pandemic and invasion of Ukraine, but carry out initiatives which pay-off in the short and long term.

She added that Malta and all the other Member States are encouraged to implement reforms and investments that complement the EU’s priorities - including smart, sustainable and inclusive growth.