The economic benefits from a successful implementation of EU programmes could be both lasting and far-reaching, Finance Parliamentary Secretary Tonio Fenech said at the launch yesterday of cohesion policy operational programmes. Mr Fenech is chairman of the National Strategic Reference Framework steering committee.

The launch was merely the climax of a very thorough strategic process involving in-depth socio-economic analysis, evaluation, wide consultation and negotiation which has spanned almost two years, he said.

The first drafts of operational programmes I and II were drawn up in June and July last year and in the meantime, negotiations were being held with the European Commission which saw Malta being the first country to have an approved NSRF in December 2006. Efforts were then focused on the conclusions of the negotiations on the operational programmes and the preparation of the project pipe-line.

The first monitoring committee for each programme is scheduled to meet today, opening the way for the launch of the first calls for project proposals shortly after.

Both programmes foresee a number of aid schemes for the private sector and also the participation of local government, partners and NGOs within the priorities set out in the programmes. Apart from the sectoral priorities, both programmes have a number of underlying horizontal priorities such as that of sustainable development and equal opportunities.

Both operational programmes take Malta’s specific objectives and needs into account, including its specific territorial characteristics, the structure of its economic activity, its structural deficits and potential areas of comparative advantage.

There had been people, both from the public and non-public sectors, Mr Fenech said, who had complained in the course of the last years that structural funds procedures were heavy and too bureaucratic. But, he pointed out, “structural funds are public funds and therefore all the rules and regulations pertaining to public funds need to be taken into account by all those who will ultimately be entrusted with the task of implementing the projects.”

The ultimate responsibility for the correct use of this money lay with the government and hence “we will need to ensure that funds are used correctly in line with the relevant procedures. When one includes the national co-financing, we are close to a billion euros over the seven years in public expenditure alone. Let’s use them wisely and correctly to ensure that we reap all the benefits without any liabilities.”

Mr Fenech said that as public funds, the structural funds should be seen as complementary and additional to both national resources and to resources available under other European programmes and Community initiatives. “We have made our choices and chosen our ‘menu’ from the available list. The programmes represent our ‘menu’. Other regions in other member states have chosen a different set of priorities, depending on their needs and goals. The interventions from the funds that will be supported by Malta’s programmes must fit our menu and must contribute to the targets that we have set for the programme. This does not mean that the government does not consider other sectors to be equally important but there may be other resources, both European and national for such actions and our aim is to maximise resources.