Gozo air link 'can' be subsidised

The European Parliament committee for economic and monetary affairs has accepted an amendment moved by Labour MEP Joseph Muscat to allow governments to subsidise helicopter services between islands when they do not carry more than 300,000 passengers a year.

Speaking at an MLP conference in Gozo yesterday, Mr Muscat said the EU was currently considering ways to make it easier for relatively small public enterprises to be subsidised by the state without prior permission from the European Commission.

The EU was holding its discussions in the context of article 86 of the Treaty of the European Union following a ruling by the European Court.

The Commission had proposed that maritime services that ferried fewer than 100,000 passengers annually between EU islands could be subsidised without notification and without its permission.

In its draft decision, which included the amendment, the committee said sea and air services carrying up to 300,000 passengers should be eligible for state subsidies without prior permission from the European Commission. The committee's report will now be discussed in full session by the European Parliament and the ball would then be in the Commission's feet.

"We did our work, it is now the government's turn to play its part if it really wants to help Gozo," Mr Muscat said.

He was speaking during a dialogue meeting led by Labour leader Alfred Sant.

Dr Sant said Labour had contested the government's decision to remove the helicopter service between Malta and Gozo and now that it was being reintroduced, it was contesting the fares the service would be charging. No tourist, he said, would use the service against a return fare of Lm50.

Dr Sant said the government could not continue saying it could not subsidise the service. There was no excuse now.