While listening to the debate on RTK between Anġlu Farrugia and Simon Busuttil, I heard the new PN deputy leader saying that former Labour leader Alfred Sant had stated – before the 2003 election – that Malta would only receive “Lm1.5 million a year from the EU”.
The truth is that the Lm1.5 million would be the net funds Malta would receive from the EU after its contributions to the EU.
Malta has to date received much less than it has paid to the EU. The proof was given to us by Sant himself on December 10. However, on RTK, Busuttil said that “Malta has received €1 billion” from the EU.
In his regular comment on inewsmalta.com, Sant gave the following amounts as Malta’s contributions to the EU from 2007 to 2011: “2007 – €53.1 million; 2008 – €63.9 million; 2009 – €62.9 million; 2010 – €59.8 million; 2011 – €67 million, for a grand total of €306.7 million.
“This amount does not include about €1.5 billion funds and other obligations which Malta has committed to protect the euro.
“On the other hand, in a reply to a parliamentary question by Labour MEP, Edward Scicluna, the European Commission informed him that, between 2007 and October 2012, Malta received a total of €278 million. These include €80 million that have still not been spent. And if they are not utilised soon, they will be lost.
“This means that between 2007 and 2011, besides the financial obligations Malta has undertaken because of the euro, it has ended up paying much more to the EU than receiving from it.”
I have not read one word from the Finance Minister or anybody else from the Government, including Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi and Busuttil, denying what Sant said.
Actually, another hefty amount of money was not mentioned by Sant. The London-based organisation Open Europe has calculated that it is costing Malta €72.5 million a year to introduce and implement EU regulations. Again, no denial from the Government to this report.
Will Gonzi and Busuttil come clean on the above? Or do they prefer to keep silent so as not to prove that they had badly hoodwinked Maltese voters about the supposed EU bonanza?