Praise for BirdLife's EU funds

The Ministry for Rural Affairs and the Environment has praised BirdLife for successfully tapping EU funds under the Life + programme for the protection of the Puffinus Yelkouan bird.

Birdlife will benefit from funding of €500,000 under the programme.

The ministry said: "The government had insisted on and obtained an important (European) Council decision, which effectively meant that Malta's high density is now considered during the evaluation, thus ensuring a level playing field among all EU member states. This has meant more financing for local proposals.

"Furthermore, in this proposal submitted by BirdLife Malta, the government offered to provide bank guarantees to secure the project and the subsequent EU funding to BirdLife Malta."

The ministry said it hoped that other organisations would come forward and submit strong proposals for eventual consideration by the European Union.