The European Commission has approved Malta's map for granting state aid between 2014 and 2020 within the framework of the Commission's new regional aid guidelines.

Commission Vice President in charge of competition policy Joaquín Almunia said: “Under the new guidelines, Malta's entire territory continues to be eligible for regional aid. This will allow the Maltese authorities to support regional investment in line with the objectives of EU state aid policy and in a way that also ensures the continuity of the Maltese regional policy.''

A regional aid map defines the regions of a Member State eligible for national regional investment aid under EU state aid rules and establishes the maximum aid levels for companies in the eligible regions. Under the guidelines, Member States can make certain areas with a GDP per capita of the EU average eligible for aid to tackle their own regional disparities, provided that they comply with an overall population coverage ceiling.

Malta's new map will be in force between July 1, 2014 and December 31, 2020. It defines the entire territory of Malta as eligible for state aid under this provision.

The maximum level of state aid (so-called "aid intensities") for investment projects carried out by large companies is 15% until 31 December 2017 and 10% between 1 January 2018 and 31 December 2020. These aid intensities can be increased by 10 percentage points for medium-sized enterprises and by 20 percentage points for small enterprises.

Compared to the previous map, the overall aid intensity has dropped by 15 percentage points for the period 2014-2017 and by 20 percentage points for the period 2018-2020, while the population coverage remains identical. This is in line with the overall approach of the Regional Aid Guidelines, which aim at focusing support on the most disadvantaged regions of Europe.