PM to sign agreement on euro campaign funding

Malta's preparations for adopting the euro in 2008 will be given a further boost this week when Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi signs a partnership agreement under the EU's Prince Programme making Malta eligible for thousands of euros to be used for its pre-adoption information campaign.

Commission sources yesterday confirmed that Dr Gonzi will be signing the agreement in Brussels in the presence of Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Joachim Almunia on Friday following months of negotiations between the Maltese authorities and the European Commission. During the same occasion, Cyprus will also be signing a similar agreement.

Under this partnership agreement, the European Commission will support Malta's national euro information campaign as part of the practical preparations for the adoption of the single currency.

Prince, an information programme for the European citizen, was created in 1995 ahead of the launching of the euro, to ensure that citizens were well informed about the euro.

The funds will support various communication activities such as media campaigns, leaflets and conferences led by the National Euro Changeover Committee.

A spokesman for the Commission said that at this stage it was not the Commission's intention to say how much each Eurozone candidate would be given in view of some minor details which may vary the final grant allocation.