Projects shelved pending talks on EU budget

Malta has to put its plans for projects that require EU funding on the back burner after talks on the new seven-year budget failed during the summit in Brussels, despite great efforts by the Luxembourg presidency to hammer out a deal.

Talks on the budget for 2007-2013 are now expected to be resuscitated during the British presidency next month, even though Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi believes the obstacles and difficulties will have intensified by then, rather than diminished.

"It's a bitter disappointment that no agreement was reached on the EU budget during the summit. Malta felt that the financial package presented was reasonable and had all the elements that could lead to an agreement," Dr Gonzi said during a press conference yesterday.

"The financial package tabled at the beginning of the summit was acceptable for Malta, and the one tabled again very late at night, was even more agreeable.

"However, while we were prepared to accept it, others declined.

"Under the UK presidency, there will naturally be complications. However, it's in everyone's interests, including Malta's, to reach an agreement because the EU cannot function properly if an agreement on the financial package is not reached."

So how does this affect Malta? "It affects us because, unless we know what budget we have at our disposal, we cannot continue with our preparations for projects, initiatives and ideas that we can submit for EU approval for implementation in 2007," he said.

Having flown in from Brussels in the early hours of yesterday morning, Dr Gonzi was soon back at work updating the party's executive committee on the latest developments on the ratification process of the EU Constitution.

The party yesterday presented the media with a seven-page position paper that it had just approved, which among others establishes that the PN is in favour of ratifying the treaty.

The paper highlights the PN's participation in drawing up the Constitution; its reasons why Europe needed a Constitution; competitiveness, social achievements and environmental improvements; and the EU's role in a globalised world, among others.

Dr Gonzi reiterated that Malta was one of the countries that opposed putting the treaty on ice and insisted that it would be a mistake to halt the present ongoing ratification process in the different countries when the procedure was nearly half way through.

"We are sticking to the original plan, where we expect the Malta Labour Party to take a favourable position on the Constitution at its general conference, allowing us to pass a resolution in Parliament in July that will approve the Consti-tutional treaty," he said.

Dr Gonzi felt the need to forge ahead with the ratification process, while others are opting to put it on hold, because it was Malta's duty and right to make its voice heard on such an important matter.

"This will be an important step for Malta. We have a duty and a right to express ourselves on this Consti-tution, to emphasise the island's role and have our voice heard. This will be a moment that will seal the island's history," he said.

"During the summit we argued that, under the present circumstances - where Malta is moving towards a unanimous decision to ratify the Constitution - we couldn't understand how anybody could present an argument to halt the process.

"We insisted that, as a sovereign country, that is part of the EU, we could not accept an imposition and insisted that every country should be free to continue or slow the process accordingly.

"We were not against delaying or postponing, but we insisted that every country should be left free to choose."

But what will happen if the Constitution is eventually changed to appease those countries that have voted against? Would Malta have to go through another ratification process?

"These are all hypotheses. We are ratifying the Constitution as it stands now. This was one of the most discussed treaties and a result of wide consultation," Dr Gonzi said.

"Two countries have voted against and we have to respect the democratic process. However, the matter should be addressed when the entire ratification process has been completed in all member states."