Malta is willing to contribute to a second Greek bailout, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said yesterday.
He said problems in other European countries affected Malta so it was in its interest to contribute to help keep Greece afloat.
Dr Gonzi was speaking to Maltese journalists in Brussels before EU leaders convened for a working dinner yesterday evening at the start of a two-day summit.
If the Greek bailout goes through, it would be the second time in as many years that EU countries have had to put their hands in their pockets to keep the country’s economy from collapsing.
Malta made available €78 million last year, after the loan was approved unanimously by Parliament in May 2010.
A second bailout of between €100 billion to €120 billion is being worked out to ensure Greece can still pay its bills, although there are plans to rope in private investors to “voluntarily” share the cost of the loan.
The situation in Greece is expected to dominate the European Council summit which will resume this morning. Dr Gonzi said this was also the main topic discussed by party leaders of the European People’s Party at a meeting earlier yesterday. The EPP is the largest political group in the European Parliament and boasts 17 of the 27 EU leaders.
He said the EPP leaders welcomed the vote of confidence in the new Greek government and were now looking at the June 28 vote by the Greek parliament on parameters for the new bailout. Dr Gonzi said Malta was willing to contribute so long as there were all the right conditions for this to happen at a European level.
Migration is another issue due to be discussed today and Dr Gonzi is expected to intervene on the situation in Malta. The main topic under discussion is the new Schengen Safeguard System that some countries want to introduce to be able to suspend the Schengen rules in extraordinary situations where a country is overburdened by migrants. They will also discuss the proposed Common European Asylum System.
The EU leaders will also discuss the situation to the south of the continent, including Libya, Egypt, Syria, Yemen, Palestine and Tunisia.
They are also expected to approve the appointment of Italian national Mario Dragi as the new president of the European Central Bank to replace Jean Claude Trichet.