Malta is among the best performers in allocating EU funds during the 2007-2013 financial period.

The island ranked as the fourth best member state among the 27, it emerged from a detailed breakdown that European Commission president José Manuel Barroso gave to EU leaders during yesterday’s summit.

According to the Commission’s document, by the end of 2011 Malta had already allocated €758 million for projects, which amounts to 91 per cent of the allocation for the island under the current seven-year financial period.

The average in the EU was 76 per cent. The only member states which fared better than Malta were Cyprus and Ireland, which have allocated all their funds, and Belgium at 94 per cent. For the 2007-2013 period, Malta was granted €833 million to spend on various projects until the end of 2015.

The allocation of these funds is not an automatic process and normally follows a delicate regime of bureaucratic and complicated rules, including the submission of detailed plans and proposals, thorough assessments by the Commission services and the final green light for a project to commence.

The bulk of Malta’s EU funds are expected to be come to fruition from this year with multiple infrastructural projects, particularly roads, restoration, new infrastructure in the environmental sector, and various projects in the social field.

The EU is currently negotiating the new financial perspectives for the next seven-year period covering 2014 to 2020.

The negotiations are expected to be wrapped up by the end of this year.