Delays, disorganisation and people being recruited only to leave after a few weeks, have made a shambles of setting up the paying agency in the Ministry of Agriculture.

As a result, Malta will inevitably lose out on substantial EU funds, specifically export refunds paid by the EU to help companies maintain their competitiveness and export to countries outside the Union.

Prior to EU accession, these refunds used to be paid out of government funds as State aid, and it very much looks like they will have to be paid out of State funds again as Malta was late applying for the EU funds for the period May 2004 to March 2006.

The reason for the delay was that Malta had not yet set up its paying agency within the Ministry for Agriculture, which is responsible for processing the claims for export refunds. The agency has now been established and began processing claims in April last year.

Matthew Vella, writing in MaltaToday last Wednesday, mentioned two big food processors that are owed money – Foster Clark which is owed Lm285,000 and HH, a Marsovin subsidiary, which is owed Lm43,000.

But this, sources said, is “just the tip of the iceberg”.

Malta was late in its preparations to join the EU, both because of lost time due to the two-year hiatus imposed by Dr Sant’s administration, and also because of the widespread uncertainty before the EU referendum. However, there is subtle irony that the man now running the Marsovin group (and also perceived to be close to the newspaper) is also the man who as Minister for Finance formed part of the government that led Malta into Europe, though he was not directly responsible for this particular ministry.

Government sources are still maintain that all hope of getting the EU refunds has not been lost, but there is no chance at all, said informed sources, that Malta can break the rules and still get the money. At most, some have said, there will be a government fudge in that unspent funds from other EU sources may be used to plug this hole, such as through agricultural funds, but this would be, at least in spirit, an improper use of funds since these refunds are for products such as maize and sugar, which are not grown in Malta and cannot thus be properly considered Maltese agricultural products.