Labour MEP, Prof Edward Scicluna ,said that contrary to what was stated by the Government in some media yesterday, his Parliamentary Question to the Commission was meant to elicit the Commission’s own version of the story behind the fact stated in its official Financial Report that only about half of the €855 million allocated to Malta under the Cohesion Programme for the years 2007-2013 has been spent up till now.
Prof. Scicluna said that he “wants to know whether funds have been lost to date and whether there is a risk that more funds will be lost in the future. At the current rate a new administration in 2013 would have to spend some 300 to 400 million euros in just two years or else lose them for good.”
Prof. Scicluna continued “this type of information is not being made public by the government on its website as is done with other Member States. The replies given to two PQs in the National Parliament on the subject lead to more questions than answers. The annual figures for EU funds received by Malta tabled by the reply to PQ 27262 do not tally with those published in the EU Financual Report for the period 2007/2009, whilst from the reply given to PQ 25142 it results that €265,923 from funds allocated for a project in Gozo were indeed lost due to the late completion of the project.”
“It is therefore the right and duty of an MEP to get the overall needed information on behalf of his constituents,” Prof. Scicluna concluded.