The government cannot use national funds to replace EU funds suspended by the European Commission in two educational programmes, Malta's EU Permanent Representative has confirmed.
Richard Cachia Caruana said the option was "informally discussed" with the Commission but it was turned down, although other solutions were being explored.
"We already have some offers from member states to take on Maltese beneficiaries under their own programmes and EUPA (the EU programmes agency in Malta) was in touch with its counterparts abroad to find solutions for other beneficiaries," Mr Cachia Caruana said.
He explained that last year Malta had helped Cypriot beneficiaries after the Commission had also suspended funds there.
However, this solution would only help a part of the students and the suspension of the funds is not expected to be lifted before six months.
In fact, Mr Cachia Caruana admitted that some students would be negatively affected and the government was "examining whether there was scope for compensation".
The idea for the government to intervene with its own money as a stop gap solution was floated by the University Students' Council (KSU) on Wednesday.
Now that this option has been discarded, the Maltese agency that manages the Youth in Action and Lifelong Learning programmes is discussing directly with the beneficiaries and evaluating each case individually.
The government was still waiting for the Commission to send a letter, listing the actions that have to be taken.
"Even if the government were to implement the measures immediately there are a series of reviews the Commission would have to make. As things stand, it is looking likely that the process could take six months before the funds are released," Mr Cachia Caruana said.
The Commission had first highlighted deficiencies in the management of funds by EUPA nine months ago. It was not satisfied with the control mechanisms used and recommended that changes be made by last September.
The funds for the two programmes were eventually suspended after the Commission said it was not satisfied with the EUPA's actions.
A spokesman for the Education Ministry insisted the agency implemented and was seeking to implement the recommendations made by the Commission.
"Everything is in hand. We are monitoring the situation closely to try and get these funds rolling again in the interest of students. We took action on all the recommendations the Commission gave us, however not everything can be solved soon. For example, if the Commission recommended we get more staff we have to go through the normal procedure for employing government employees," the spokesman said.
The Commission had noted that the "national agency could not cope with the programme management requirements because of lack of human resources and because of the high staff turnover". The report also complained that duties were not separated well enough, with the person giving advice to an applicant later evaluating the same grant application.
The suspension of funds has affected hundreds of young people.
Meanwhile, in a tit-for-tat yesterday, Labour's education spokesman Evarist Bartolo and Education Minister Dolores Cristina crossed swords over the matter.
Mr Bartolo blamed the EUPA's failure to manage the funds correctly on the minister's "bad leadership". He accused Mrs Cristina of ignoring warnings she received from various quarters on the bad management at EUPA and alleged that she sacked those who made these warnings.
Mrs Cristina denied the claim and insisted the programmes were not suspended because of fraud or corruption. "The programmes were suspended as a precaution until the Commission is satisfied that all control mechanisms are implemented by EUPA," she said.
More stories from The Times in the News section.