For the second year running, none of the Maltese projects submitted to the European Commission for funding under its environment programme made the grade.

The Commission has just announced the allocation of €130 million under its environmental programme known as Life.

Commission sources told The Times that Malta submitted only two projects, one under Life Environment and the other under Life Nature.

The Maltese proposals did not attain the quality requested by the Commission.

This year Greece got five projects while Lithuania and Slovenia got two each.

A spokesman for the Commission's Environment Directorate General explained that the selection of projects depends on the number of proposals submitted. The Commission this year got 717 proposals and picked 143. The fact that Malta submitted only two proposals limited the chances of getting any funds.

All the other member states sent tens of proposals in order to have a better chance of securing funding.

Prior to membership, Malta had benefited substantially from a number of projects. As a candidate country, in the period 1994 - 2003, the island had submitted a number of projects under the Life - Third Country programme. Eight projects were selected and almost €2 million were allocated. The projects where mainly submitted by government departments and agencies.

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