Noel Grima

Although the discussion was an informal one, no progress was registered at yesterday’s informal Ecofin meeting held in Luxembourg on the EU’s financial perspectives, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said.

Speaking to The Malta Independent on Sunday after arriving from Luxembourg yesterday afternoon, Dr Gonzi said the Luxembourg presidency is still trying to find common ground and the Commission is still aiming to reach an agreement before the end of the Luxembourg presidency. However, the net contributor countries and the net receiver countries are still holding fast to their positions.

There will be a formal Ecofin meeting before the next European Council, which will be held in mid-June, and Dr Gonzi still hopes agreement will be reached then, in true EU, 11th hour style.

The ministers were also presented with projections of a slower growth in the coming months.

In their Friday late evening meeting, the ministers discussed aid to the developing world, which they will present in September that will confirm the EU is clearly the bloc that contributes most to the developing world. A fund is going to be set up but Malta, and other countries, objected to a tax on airline tickets to fund this project. Rather than going for debt cancelling, as British Chancellor Gordon Brown has suggested, the EU seems more likely to exempt them from paying long-term interest and to invest the money in health and vaccination programmes.