The Budget is planned to be presented on Monday, November 17, government sources have told Times of Malta.

The date has not been officially announced and technically must still be discussed in Parliament’s House Business Committee. 

The development comes after the government received a formal letter from the European Commission in which it was asked to give further details on the measures underpinning the Budget for next year.

Malta was among a group of countries, which included Italy, France, Slovenia and Austria, to receive a similar letter from the Commission. 

Last week The Financial Times reported that these countries would be told by the Commission that their budget plans risked breaching budgetary rules.

So far, in Malta’s case, Brussels has simply asked for more details, while in the case of Italy, the Commission is asking why the government is planning “non-compliance with the Stability and Growth Pact” which binds member states to keep their deficit below the threshold of three per cent of the Gross Domestic Product.

Speaking on the fringes of an EU Summit yesterday, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said the European Commission had only asked for a list of the indirect taxation measures the government was planning to introduce.

“The issue in reality is one of timing, as some measures cannot be announced some three weeks in advance of the Budget date,” he told journalists.

He assured them there was no mention of a deviation from the stringent targets of the Stability and Growth Pact and said the issue should be resolved soon.