The latest statistics released show that the government had not reached the targets established, and was failing to bring over the funds stipulated with the European Union, Labour Party deputy leader for parliamentary affairs Charles Mangion said yesterday.

It had been estimated that in 2007, some Lm73 million, or more than Lm6 million a month, would be obtained from the EU. But in the first five months of the year, all the government had managed to obtain was Lm2.6 million per month, that is a total of Lm18 million less when compared to the first five months of last year and nearly Lm27 million less than the amount estimated.

In spite of this, Malta continued to pay Lm2 million per month as its contribution to the EU. This confirmed that in spite of the government’s boasting that it has plans to benefit from the EU structural funds, it is clear that this is not so, Dr Mangion said.

At the same time, people are suffering more because of increased taxation, and statistics released by Eurostat indicate that, together with Cyprus, Malta is the country where taxation has increased the most in the last few years. Such taxation, as well as an increase in the cost of essential items such as medicines, food and services, are eating away at people’s standard of living, he said.