St John's EU funds to be used for other projects

The €14 million worth of EU funds, previously dedicated to the now defunct extension of St John's Co-Cathedral museum, will not be lost but will be redirected to other tourism-related projects.

Following a call for applications last year, the St John's Co-Cathedral Foundation had obtained 85 per cent of the money needed for the museum project , a senior government official responsible for EU funds said yesterday.

The funds had not yet been passed on to the foundation as, according to EU rules, funds are only paid against receipts once a project is completed.

The funds will now be used for other projects, related to the same budget line under which they were allocated. This means that other organisations related to tourism, including the government, can apply for the money once a call for projects is issued, the official said.

The St John's funds were originally allocated as part of the first Operational Programme, under the European Regional Development Fund for 2007-2013.

Malta will be benefitting from a total allocation of €855 million under the various structural and cohesion funds allocated by the EU for the 2007-2013 budgetary period. All these funds have to be spent on projects completed by 2015.

Earlier this week, the foundation decided to abandon its project following an agreement between the Prime Minister and the Archbishop.

This was done in the light of the controversy surrounding the proposal, which included the use of two underground cisterns in St John's Square to house a set of world-renowned Flemish tapestries donated to the cathedral by Grand Master Perellos in 1701.