"The loss of funds from the European Union is one example of the incompetence of the Labour Government. Three years after the general election, the Maltese and Gozitan people are becoming aware that the Labour Government, led by Joseph Muscat, is an incompetent one."

This was said by Shadow Minister for EU and Foreign Affairs Roberta Metsola, during a press conference held at the Coast Road today, which was also addressed by the Shadow Minister for Gozo Chris Said.

MEP Roberta Metsola stated that, "this stems from several examples, including the increase in traffic, the public transport failure, as well as the construction of the new Power Station that as yet is not completed,. However, the greatest symbol of the incompetence of the Labour Government is the loss of funding from the European Union, from such as the Coast Road project. as well as the Citadel restoration project."

Speaking about the Coast Road, Roberta Metsola claimed that on this project, the Maltese and Gozitan people lost € 11 million from the European Union funds. "For this loss Maltese and Gozitans will have to make good, by paying more for petrol and diesel," warned Roberta Metsola.

Roberta Metsola also pointed out that "the Government did not have the political courage and did not have the moral fibre to face the Maltese and Gozitan people and account for what they did wrong." Instead, she argued, the Government had given "three different versions within 24 hours."

"The first said that lost € 11 million will be used for environmental and educational projects, Then it was to be used for roads, and then it was said that it would not be used for roads, but on the environment and education."

Roberta Metsola also referred to questions about a possible loss of funds from the European Union for the Gozo General Hospital.

On his part, Chris Said explained in detail how the Government lost funds from the Citadel project. He said that in response to a Parliamentary question, in November 2014 the Gozo Minister Anton Refalo said the Citadel project would be completed by June 2015 (7 months ago) and the value of the project is € 14,5 million, of which 85% (€ 12.5m) will come from European Union funds. "Although the work had to be completed seven months ago, it is not finished," stated Chris Said.

Chris Said pointed out that because the work was not completed in time it meant that € 2 million was lost from the European Union funds. Said noted that in response to another Parliamentary question last month, the Gozo Minister confirmed that "by the end of 2015 € 10.5 million was spent on the Citadel project, amounting to 90.3% of the funds allocated."

Said also noted that even Parliamentary Secretary Ian Borg, in an article in the It Torca on Sunday, "confirmed that only € 10.5 million was used from the European Union funds."

"This means that every Gozitan couple, will have to pay out € 120 extra for this project instead of European Union funds," explained Chris Said.

He recalled that the Nationalist Party in Government had completed a full Citadel Masterplan, and had carried out the reinforcement and restoration of the Citadel bastions, projects which used European Union funds, "without a cent being lost from any of them."

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