EU Commission warns Malta over waste, renewable energy, and VAT compliance

The European Commission has opened two infringement procedures and issued one reasoned opinion against Malta for breaches of EU rules on waste management, renewable energy, and VAT systems.

Malta is facing renewed scrutiny from Brussels after the European Commission on Tuesday announced a series of actions targeting the country’s compliance with EU laws. The actions include two infringement procedures and one reasoned opinion. The latter is a more advanced stage in the process that precedes a potential referral to the EU Court of Justice.

In the first infringement procedure, the Commission said Malta had failed to comply with EU waste management standards under the Landfill Directive, which requires that only treated waste be sent to landfills. According to the Commission, waste disposed of at certain Maltese sites is not being adequately sorted or pre-treated beforehand.

It also noted that landfilling remains Malta’s predominant waste disposal method, with one of the highest per-capita waste generation rates in the EU and persistently low recycling levels.

Malta has two months to reply to the Commission’s letter of formal notice and outline measures to address the shortcomings. If the response is unsatisfactory, the Commission may move to the next stage by issuing a reasoned opinion.

In the second case, Malta, together with Belgium and France, is subject to another infringement procedure over failure to fully implement EU VAT rules for small enterprises. The Commission said the three countries have not yet developed the necessary IT systems to allow the exchange of information between EU tax authorities.

The directive, which came into effect this year, allows small businesses to benefit from simplified VAT obligations across borders, provided Member States’ systems are fully interoperable. The Commission warned that without these IT functionalities, the new VAT scheme cannot operate correctly.

The third action involves a reasoned opinion—a more advanced step in the infringement process—over Malta’s failure to fully transpose into national law the revised Renewable Energy Directive, which requires member states to simplify and accelerate permitting procedures for renewable energy projects.

The updated directive, in force since November 2023, had to be implemented by July 2024. It sets binding deadlines for permit-granting, strengthens the role of single contact points for applications, and recognises renewable projects as being of “overriding public interest”. The Commission concluded that Malta has not yet fully implemented these provisions.

If Malta fails to comply within two months, the Commission may refer the case to the EU’s top court and request financial penalties.