About €640,000 worth of direct orders were made by the European Affairs Ministry in the first half of this year in connection with Malta's presidency of the European Council.
Among the direct orders, which, according to government policy, are to be used only in emergency situations, €28,800 was spent at one go to provide liquor. It was procured from Gozo’s Ta’ Mena Estate “to be served during events in Brussels”, according to a notice published in The Malta Government Gazette.
It is not yet known how many bottles of liquor were bought but industry sources noted that the sum spent indicated it must have run into thousands.
In a statement condemning the expenditure on alcohol, the Nationalist Party said the news confirmed that this was a government "which has a lot for the few, and little for the many."
Catering providers were among the suppliers that benefited most from direct orders issued by the European Affairs Ministry, which during the presidency was led by Louis Grech and parliamentary secretary Ian Borg.
Mr Grech did not run for re-election and Mr Borg is now Minister for Transport.
The biggest direct order, €130,000, went to Genaudio for two days of translation
The list of direct orders shows that the Fortina Hotel was paid almost €74,000 in one direct order for the provision of catering services, followed by Mannarinu Caterers, who got a direct order of €57,500 to provide party food. Palazzo Events, which runs Palazzo Parisio in Naxxar, was given a direct order valued at more than €11,000 for reception food and beverages.
The biggest direct order on the list was given to Genaudio, an audio-visual company based in Paola, which was paid almost €130,000 to provide translation services for a two-day summit for EU heads of State and of government hosted by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat.
Other direct orders included one costing €77,000 allocated to the Intercontinental Hotel for hiring a venue related to an EU presidency event.
For transportation, the ministry forked out a direct order of €40,500 to the Unscheduled Bus Service, €11,250 to Meli Garage and €14,062 to John’s Garage.
Sources close to the government said that the direct orders were only “the tip of the iceberg” because other ministries and government agencies had allocated many more direct orders, quotations and tenders.
It is not yet known how much the six-month EU presidency cost the Maltese taxpayers.
Finance Minister Edward Scicluna said last year the government was planning to cap spending on the EU presidency at €40 million, however the sources said that the target was exceeded.
According to the draft financial estimates published together with the Budget, the government spent €20.6 million on the EU presidency in 2016 and is estimating to spend about €28.5 million this year. This does not include expenses related to the tripling of resources at Malta’s EU Representation in Brussels to cope with the presidency. According to the draft financial estimates, the government’s costs related to the Permanent Representation last year exceed €5.5 million.