The European Commission has given the green light for Malta’s first operational package of European funds for the period between 2021 and 2027.

The Parliamentary Secretariat for European Funds said in a statement that the first package approved by the European Commission was the one for Asylum, Migration and Integration, with €52.3 million in EU funds being allocated to Malta.

The fund provides assistance to member states to be able to cope with the influx in immigrants by providing funds for asylum facilities, solidarity programmes between member states, and the creation of new mechanisms so the worse-hit countries have support from countries not as affected.

The parliamentary secretariat said that the fund will offer more support to Malta for it to continue to address the challenges of irregular immigration.

In the statement, the secretariat noted how in 2020 Prime Minister Robert Abela had managed to negotiate the largest European funding package which Malta had ever received, and added that in the past months the government has been negotiating with the European Commission on how the country will invest the money through different programmes.

Parliamentary Secretary for EU Funds Chris Bonett said that the government has a duty to use the €2.25 billion in European funds which it had acquired to carry out important work which will put together projects for the people to benefit from.

He said that the government is looking forward to having the seal of approval on its eight operating programmes from the European Commission so that it can use the European funding in order to improve the quality of life of the Maltese and Gozitan people.