Malta has not received a request for more extensive financial aid to Greece, Finance Minister Tonio Fenech told Parliament yesterday.

He was speaking at the end of a 20-minute question and answer session with Labour MP Alfred Sant on Malta’s exposure to the bail-outs for Greece, Portugal and Ireland.

Dr Sant had asked for a discussion in plenary session of the House on the funds that Malta had made available for the eurozone bail-outs. Such discussions were being held in all other EU Parliaments, he said.

Parliamentary Secretary Chris Said, deputising for the Prime Minister to whom Dr Sant had addressed his original question, said the House had held two debates on two issues, both of which had been unanimously agreed.

Dr Sant said the value of the two debates had expired because they had been followed by subsequent serious events. A extensive new debate had been held last week in the German parliament.

Dr Said disagreed with Dr Sant’s use of the term “expired”. He said any changes would have to come back to the House for a new debate.

Intervening in the cross-debate, Mr Fenech said there was no change in the parameters of Malta’s loan to Greece, ratified by Parliament. Any rescheduling of Greece’s debts would have to come back to the House.

Greece had already done a lot to address the situation, but international markets were impatient. No national economy could be changed overnight.

The House had also debated the €400 million guaranteed aid to Portugal under the European Financial Stability Fund mechanism.

Dr Sant asked what Malta’s exposure was as of now. Had Malta also agreed with Portugal’s scaleback of health services?

Mr Fenech said Portugal’s austerity measures had not been decided by the Council of Ministers. The Portuguese government had had to resort to very drastic measures to arrive at the needed financial stability.

When Dr Sant asked what the government’s position was with regard to a re-profiling of the Greek debt, Mr Fenech said Malta had received no request for such additional help.