Updated 1.25pm
Malta has yet to present its plan for spending more than €300 million in European Union funding to help it economically recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Nationalist Party noted on Saturday.
The EU's €672 billion recovery and resilence plan will provide a combination of grants and cheap loans to EU member states, subject to the approval of national plans by the EU Council and EU Commission.
Malta was originally allocated €242 million from that fund, although that figure has been increased to €320 million.
Member states were invited to submit plans by the end of April, although the Commission has noted that April 30 was "an orientation date, not a deadline” and that plans can be submitted until the middle of 2022.
EU member states started presenting their plans for the bloc’s recovery and resilience plan earlier this week, in the hope of having the first funds flow to them from Brussels by the end of summer.
So far, five member states - France, Germany, Spain, Slovakia and Portugal - have submitted their plans to the EU. Malta is currently consulting on its post-pandemic strategy and intends to publish a policy document to that effect in June.
In a statement issued by its MP and spokesperson for EU funding Kevin Cutajar, the PN said that the government had “failed to apply for EU funds in time”.
“The failure to present a recovery and resilience plan in time is an insult by the Labour Party to our country, on the day when we mark our entry into the European Union,” the PN said, alluding to Malta’s EU accession date in 2004.
The PN asked why the government had failed to present the EU funding plan or discuss it with parliament and demanded to know who had been tasked with preparing the documentation.
Plan will be presented to parliament - government
The government responded to the PN statement with comments of its own, saying it was currently wrapping up informal talks with the European Commission concerning Malta’s plan.
It highlighted the mid-2022 deadline for submissions and rubbished the Opposition's suggestion that Malta was out of time.
The EU’s recovery and resilience plan would make €320 million in funding available to Malta, it said - €80 million more than the €242 million originally announced when the EU’s budget for 2021-2027 was revealed.
A government spokesperson told Times of Malta that further negotiations had led to the higher final sum.
In its statement, the parliamentary secretariat for EU funds said that the government would be presenting its final plan to parliament once technical discussions with the EU were concluded.
The EU and International Monetary Fund both predicted that Malta would be among the countries to experience the fastest post-COVID recovery, the government said, noting that government measures had helped reverse unemployment growth.
“This is a government with a strong track record when it comes to EU funds,” it said.
Correction May 1: Amended to reflect that the government will be presenting the plan to parliament once technical discussions are concluded with the EU.