Agency's mistakes could cost taxpayer €270,000

Taxpayers could be forking out at least €270,000 to enable some 300 students to take up EU study trip opportunities they were otherwise going to be denied because of mismanagement by the Maltese authorities.

The Ministry of Education has refrained from giving an estimated budget for the new "direct exchange" programme it created together with the University of Malta and various EU universities as a solution to the suspension of programmes by the European Commission.

The University Students Council, which welcomed the "temporary solution", informed The Times that about 450 students had applied for the Erasmus programme this year and that around 100 have not yet been informed of whether they would be accepted.

A conservative estimate, which was described as "fair" by an Education Ministry spokesman, would see at least 300 students taking up the new "direct exchange" programme. They are being told they will each receive €300 a month for an average of three months.

This means the government will spend more than a quarter of a million euro on the scheme following mistakes made by the national authority and agency responsible for distributing EU funds, which led to the suspension of the programmes by the European Commission.

At the beginning of the month, three top officials were forced to resign over the matter and calls were made for Education Minister Dolores Cristina to step down too, even though she has insisted she was not made aware of the maladministration within the offices that fell under her ministry.

Opposition spokesman for education Evarist Bartolo said he was happy that some students were not going to miss out but said there were many questions that remained unclear.

"It is very important for the government and the University to be clear about how this will work, how much it will cost, where the money will come from, who will benefit and who will not... and whether this is a one-off simply not to lose face totally or a new long-term scheme," he said.

In his opinion this was clearly a damage limitation "patchwork" exercise in light of Labour's motion of no confidence in the minister which will be presented on Wednesday. "But I think this strengthens the call for her resignation. It is clear that image is more important than substance for the government."

Mr Bartolo pointed out that both the University and the government were being very careful not to say this was a replacement of the EU funds, since "they know they cannot do that".

He was referring to the statement made by Malta's EU permanent representative Richard Cachia Caruana, who had said that the European Commission would not allow Malta to use national funds as a replacement.

Meanwhile, the University Students' Council welcomed the "temporary solution", saying that the government funding would allow students to reap the benefits of programmes like Erasmus.

However, KSU urged the government to tackle with urgency the situation concerning the 100 students who have not yet been informed about whether they will be able to proceed with their plans.