PN MEP Peter Agius has published correspondence with the European Commission that reveals that the Maltese government shifted €3.8 million in European Union funds away from farmers and towards measures relating to forest area development and improving the viability of forests.

In a press release issued by the European Parliament's largest political group, the European People's Party (EPP), Peter Agius stated that "following several complaints from farmers that European funds intended for the production of healthy and local foods are going to government agencies, I now have evidence from the European Commission that €3.8 million supposedly dedicated to farmers actually went into agency spending and so-called 'forest' measures."

Agius got this verified through an official response from the European Commissioner for Agriculture and Food, Christophe Hansen, which was published with this statement. A member of Hansen's Cabinet within the European Commission stated that with regards to the final Maltese Rural Development Programme, its last amendment saw that "financial shifts were introduced for a total of approximately EUR 3.8 million in terms of EU contribution."

"All these funds were reallocated to the measure on investments in forest area development and the improvement of the viability of forests," Hansen's team told Agius.

Agius said that these European funds were initially dedicated to farming initiatives such as the Young Farmers Scheme and the purchase of machinery for farmers, before being set aside towards "forestry."

The Commissioner's team added that "a broad range" of national stakeholders was involved in discussions on these proposed financial shifts, in compliance with EU rules. Following this consultation, "the proposed financial shifts were therefore considered necessary and appropriate to address evolving needs and priorities on the ground."

Commissioner Hansen's Cabinet also said that the implementation of national Rural Development Programmes (RDPs) and Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) Strategic Plans fall under the responsibility of national authorities.

Agius noted that while investment in trees and green spaces is important, "this should never be to the detriment of food security."

"It is ironic that instead of looking at how to encourage young farmers, the Government is instead dedicating itself to the viability of forests in Malta," MEP Agius said.

Agius also remarked that while the Maltese government "boasted" that it provided €86 million to the Agriculture and Rural Payments Agency (ARPA), "dozens of farmers have been waiting for more than a year for contracts for the supply of the necessary machinery to be issued and for the necessary agricultural structures to be created."

"There are also several farmers, butchers and wine and olive oil producers who participated in the last call for food processors whose requests were pending because while qualifying for European funds these same funds were expected to be taken over by government agencies which applied for the same funds," Agius said.

"All this shows that the government has shifted away from aiding Maltese farming and the ability of Maltese farmers to sustain the population with a local product," he said. "Instead of investing in the farmers and fishermen, it was seeing how to spend European funds in 'easier' ways. This is a tragedy which I, as an MEP for Malta and Gozo, am doing my part both in Malta and in Europe to make sure we avoid. Our children's food in the future depends on this."

In 2021, Eurostat published that only around 1% of Maltese land was covered by forests - by far the lowest share of forest land in any EU country; next lowest was the Netherlands with 10%, though overall, around two fifths (39%) of all EU land was said to be covered with forests.

Two years later, in 2023, Eurostat published that Malta still recorded the lowest share of forest area to total land, though this notably improved to 4.3%. The same publication also found that Malta recorded the largest losses of timber volume, defined as "standing stock of wood in forests, i.e. mostly living trees that grow every year," from all EU countries.