European Commission says Malta could lose €179 million in EU funds

Malta could be set to miss out on some €179 million in EU cohesion funds, according to a plans unveiled by the European Commission on Tuesday.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, the Commission said that with the EU’s economy bouncing back, it was proposing to modernise Cohesion Policy – the EU’s main investment policy.

The Commission stressed that additional investment efforts were required to tackle “persistent gaps between and within Member States”, and that resources would continue to be geared towards regions that need to catch up with the rest of the EU.

According to the Commission’s proposal, Malta would be entitled to €597 million, €179 million less than the €776 negotiated in 2012.

In a statement, the government said it had taken note of the Commission’s proposal for the 2021-2017 Cohesion Policy, adding that economic, social and territorial cohesion was one of the biggest EU policies in terms of budget.

It said that today’s proposal needed to be viewed within the context of:

1. the fact that the Commission, in its post-2020 Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) Proposal of 2nd May, has proposed a reduction in the  share of Cohesion Policy within the next EU budget, mainly as a result of Brexit, and;
2. the fact that the  rest of the sectoral policies (such as agriculture, Erasmus+, migration, and security) will be issued in the coming days.

“In this regard, Malta welcomes the Commission’s proposal to widen the eligibility of the transition regions to those whose GDP per capita at purchasing power parity is between 75-100% of the EU average,” it said.

“This means Malta is expected to continue benefitting from transition status that will help to sustain and consolidate the current economic growth.”