Brussels wants to lift suspension as soon as possible

The European Commission would like to lift the suspension of educational funds it imposed as soon as possible, Malta's Permanent Representation to the EU reported yesterday.

In a statement, which followed a meeting between Education Minister Dolores Cristina and European Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou, the Permanent Representation also said that projects under the Youth in Action Programme would go ahead as planned for applicants who had been formally notified of selection under the 2010 call. Commission sources said last week it could take at least five more months to lift the suspension.

It could not be established last night how many students this arrangement would help from the 600 or so estimated to have been affected by the suspension.

Malta had about €4 million in educational funds allocated to 2010 projects suspended last month. Brussels said it had no other option but to make such a decision after management issues it raised with the way the local agency was administering the funds remained ignored.

Since the matter escalated in May, progress was made on the EU's demands and the Commission is now analysing the detailed information it has received from Malta, according to the Permanent Representation of Malta to the EU.

A meeting between the Commission and Maltese representatives will be held at the end of the month to discuss pending issues. The Commission will send a team to Malta to assess the situation on the ground, the Permanent Representation said.

An inquiry ordered by the Prime Minister blamed three officials at the Education Ministry for the fiasco, including the permanent secretary, describing their position as untenable and saying the situation could have been avoided. They have since resigned. They failed to deal effectively with the issues raised by the European Commission as far back as May 2006 and even failed to flag the EU's warnings to Malta's Permanent Representation to the EU in Brussels as they should have according to procedure set by Cabinet.

The inquiry noted that Education Minister Dolores Cristina had been present at a meeting, about six months before the funds were suspended, in which the EU's grievances with the local paying agency were highlighted. On this basis, Opposition Leader Joseph Muscat called for Mrs Cristina's resignation.

The Education Ministry insisted that the minister was never informed there was a danger that EU funding for the education programmes could be suspended and the inquiry report made it clear the matter was never raised to the political level.