Ian Borg, Parliamentary Secretary for EU Funds, told a news conference that in the forthcoming  financial programming period the government will be making sure that all priorities will be entirely focused.  These priorities include educaction, research and innovation, energy, job creation among youths and facilitating financial access to SMEs.

Dr. Borg highlighted various initiaties taken during the past eight months through EU funding that fit with the government’s own priortites for the upcoming programming period 2014-2020.  These include  the building of two new wards at Mater Dei Hospital that will be housing 68 new beds specifically intended towards those patients under intensive treatment.

He also referred to those funds alloted for the photovoltaic panel schemes to industries that had been halted a few months ago and announced that these had now been reallocated onto other initiatives as had been promised at the time when the scheme had been suspended.

Dr Borg said that these €5.5m will now be reallocated to three particular initiatives, which are  sporting facilities at St Ignatius College, Qormi; the regeneration of educational and vocational facilities at the Marija Regina College Boys Secondary School in Mosta and the building of a new unit at the Sixth Form campus in Gozo.