Negotiations between the European Commission and the Maltese government over the future of Air Malta are at an “advanced stage” and are expected to conclude with an agreement, Finance Minister Clyde Caruana said. 

Caruana told Times of Malta he always insisted with the Commission on the country’s need for a national airline. 

“We have to arrive at a situation where the country must continue to have a national airline, especially since the country is an island,” Caruana said.

In April, Times of Malta quoted sources in Brussels as saying the Commission had rejected a government proposal to pump €290 million into Air Malta, and that the airline would close and a new one set up.  Soon after, Air Malta chairman David Curmi confirmed that Malta would have a new national airline by the end of the year. 

“We are nearing the end of long, difficult and complex discussions with the European Commission, which did not want a photocopy of Air Malta. We showed the Commission that we mean business,” Curmi said in an April interview. 

Asked for an update on the negotiations Caruana said the government and Commission are close to concluding a deal. 

“If we were not coming to an agreement, it would not have taken all these months,” Caruana said.

“Negotiations have advanced a lot, and soon we will begin seeing their conclusions, and once they are concluded, I have no difficulty in making public whatever is decided,” Caruana said. 

Under EU rules, member states must seek approval from the European Commission before giving state aid.