French PM to visit Malta

French Prime Minister François Fillon will be making an official visit to Malta early next month, The Times has learnt.

A French delegation was here last week to check out the island's medical facilities in preparation for the trip.

Sources close to Mater Dei Hospital said Mr Fillon's doctor had asked to see the medical facilities just in case the 54-year-old French premier falls ill while here. This is not an unusual procedure for visits by important figures.

Mr Fillon's planned trip was confirmed by a high-level Maltese government official after The Times sought to confirm a front-page report in a Maltese-language Sunday newspaper that the delegation had been sent because French President Nicholas Sarkozy will be receiving "urgent medical treatment" at Mater Dei.

However, a spokesman for the French Embassy in Malta said the delegation's visit had nothing to do with the French President and that the report was "completely wrong".

Asked specifically whether the delegation had been in Malta in relation to an impending visit by the French Prime Minister, she replied: "You will see in due time."