EU funding is no bed side reading, its’ workings are considered complex even by the technocrats in Brussels. And yet mastering those workings we must if we want to keep deriving the full benefits of EU membership. In the first years of accession Malta did a magnificent job at that. Malta underwent a development metamorphosis thanks to EU funding, from MCAST (26 million EU funding) to Mater Dei (55 million oncology centre) to Forts St Angelo, St Elmo and Cittadella we gave a sound facelift to this beautiful country. And it was not only brick and limestone. The Erasmus experience touched over 6000 Maltese youngsters while Jobs plus courses upped the skills of thousands of Maltese, budding entrepreneurs, professionals, tradesmen and women.

The pandemic was putting the Union’s solidarity under scrutiny. But Europe acted with boldness to give Malta and all other Member States a renewed economic impetus through a 750 billion euro recovery budget. Malta stands to gain 350 million euro in EU grants and over 600 million euro in loan facilities. So why is Minister Scicluna calling this EU opportunity a prickly pear?

Clearly the present government has forsaken Malta’s path to making success out of Europe. A detailed analysis of the European Commission’s proposal shows that it is also giving up on adapting Europe to our specific needs. That adaptation is indeed required in most fora where Malta has a place at the table. Our geography and our unique characteristics, as an island isolated from the mainland, require us to do that at every meeting, if need be at every paragraph of proposed legislation in Brussels. Here is where the Minister’s government is failing to the prejudice of our continued benefit from EU membership.

Let me elaborate on just two examples of how government is failing to adapt EU negotiations to our needs. The European Commission criteria for determining EU funding allocations is based on a series of parameters. The present proposals heavily relies on actual unemployment rates thereby greatly favouring countries like Italy and Spain with pre-existing high levels of unemployment. This criterion sees us worse off on two fronts, first due to the fact that the thousands of jobs lost in Malta over the past months consist of foreign nationals who do not appear on our unemployment rates but who leave behind a significant economic void in the trickle down economy. Secondly, using the short-term covid-19 employment impact to determine funding criteria belies a situation where the tourism impact will have more negative effect in the medium to longer term in Summer and beyond due to reduced tourist confidence.

Apart for the need to adapt the present proposals on the benefits side, we certainly need a stronger lobbying effort to convince Europe to change its direction on the supply side of the budget. Let’s face it – European money does not fall from the sky – it needs to be billed to someone. So far, Malta was chipping in a very modest percentage when compared to its benefit. The new proposal is different. With the inclusion of a principle of EU direct taxes to leverage EU money, we are now no longer reassured that the overall equation is to our longer-term benefit.

This latter element explains the Minister’s equally confusing statement last week for his preference for loans rather than grants. Just imagine going to the bank for a mortgage and you have the possibility of getting a grant instead of a loan, and you opt for the loan! The Minister is opting for the loans because he seems to be incapable of deciding the terms of the grants. The government’s preference for loans is all the more suspicious considering that earlier on last year Minister Farrugia came out to ridicule my criticism of not exploiting EU loans under the so called Juncker Plan where Malta made the least recourse to EU loans per capita in Europe. Back then the Honourable Farrugia declared that Malta did not need EU loans. Funny that now we suddenly need them to the tune of 600 million euro right?

Labour has simply turned the juicy pear of EU funding into a prickly pear, through lack of effort or effectiveness in designing it to our needs. Let me close with a simple suggestion of how EU funding can be used to infuse new productivity in our small businesses in Malta and Gozo. Right now a good chunk of our workforce is teleworking from home in an effort to keep business activity going notwithstanding the pandemic. Latest data indicates that over 1,600 Gozitans are presently teleworking their Malta jobs from Gozo, avoiding the daily commute. The European Union has explicitly pushed teleworking as a means to address a better work-life balance in a Directive adopted last year. Now is the opportunity to use EU funding to pursue this objective in Malta. Imagine the added value of a local scheme covering the costs of computers and visio facilities at home for thousands of Maltese and Gozitan workers. Such an initiative can also cover investment in encryption and closed circuit services for our business ensuring the peace of mind of teleworking without compromising business efficiency. Now that is the Europe we worked for!