Prime Minister Abela yesterday returned from a 4 day summit on the EU budget. On the positive side, the initial figures coming from Government indicate important allocations to many areas of our economy, including the primary sectors. On the negative side this package now includes an odious reliance on the so-called EU own resources, the Brussels-speak for direct EU taxes, including on financial transactions, which for the first time finds its way into an EU Council text with Malta’s acceptance. 

EU funding has a huge role to play in continuing the development of these islands. Malta’s relative prosperity today is not without link to our EU accession in 2004. Let us not forget that over the past ten years our islands have benefitted from no less than 900 million EU funding investment in structural funds alone. From research in other small EU countries, it is estimated that the trickle-down effect of EU funding can trigger up to 17% of GDP in a given country. 

Malta is indeed an excellent case study of the beneficial effect of EU cohesion policy. We have grown on all fronts since accession, thanks to market access, wider opportunities and also EU money in the form of grants and loans. On the funding front we made good use of the EU by giving an overall facelift to this ageing beauty which is Malta, from Cittadella to Fort St Elmo and St Angelo to a myriad of chapels and squares around the islands, we used EU Money like that legendary inheritance from a distant aunt finally paying for a deep home renovation. 

It does not stop at culture or history. The most imperative use of EU funding goes to MCAST, Jobs plus and a hundred other social and youth projects including over 6000 Erasmus experiences for Maltese youths. 

However, while continuing our development on lessons learnt in the past, now that we are starting another 7-year EU budget term, we must focus on making EU funding work better for Malta by making it more accessible to those most in need of it. I have been around factories, workshops and greenhouses in the past years speaking to people on how they perceive the EU and EU funding. There are certainly many success stories to speak about, from small companies investing in production efficiency to farmers now selling energy to the grid thanks to EU financed solar energy investments. But, out of ten people I meet capable to receiving EU funding, I believe that a good half of them have never actually tapped into it. They see it steeped in bureaucracy and impossible criteria tailored to other worlds than theirs. 

Given that EU funding will continue to support public investment in Malta we as a nation need to invest better in guiding sectors of our economy to access it better. Other EU countries are doing just that in many areas from the Rhine region in Germany to the fishing conglomerates on the coast of France, there are public and private groupings to assist particular communities to apply and handle EU funding. 

Another aspect we need to address is to ensure that Government and other public authorities do not discourage private entities from accessing EU funds through direct competition. One illustrative case for this is the situation with some EU agriculture funds where government authorities end up competing with private bids for EU funding for embellishment and landscaping. The past call in that sector saw Infrastructure Malta and local councils grabbing up 70% of allocations. 

Finally, we must do more to communicate the benefits of the EU and Malta’s evolving role in that context. For imperative policy decisions affecting so many livelihoods, we should not rely on enigmatic prickly pear metaphors and tweets by the Prime Minister in between his selfies with other Prime Ministers. The Maltese people, and especially those likely of being in the firing line, should not only be informed, but also consulted as to possible negotiation strategies and outcomes before they are actually deployed.