Two more companies have rented office space at Dar Malta in Brussels, raising the total so far to three.

Dar Malta, a large office block across the road from the European Commission's headquarters, was bought by the Maltese government in 2004 for €21 million.

Finance Minister Tonio Fenech told parliament this evening that the fourth floor was rented in May last year to the Volkswagen Group. The lease is for nine years but may be terminated after the sixth year if Malta needs the space when it is about to assume the presidency of the EU.

Agreement was recently reached with Diageo, which has rented half of the second floor, under the same conditions as given to VW.

Over the past few days Vodafone rented the other half of the second floor.

Mr Fenech refused to give financial details, citing commercial reasons. He said, however, that €32,413 have been paid to an estate agency.

The government last year said it was seeking to rent office space on four floors, measuring a total of 2,110 square metres.

Dar Malta opened its doors in February 2007 following extensive refurbishment that transformed the building into state-of-the-art offices which house Malta's Representation to the EU.