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NEWS maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 17 APRIL 2019 2 DAVID HUDSON MALTA needs to up its game when it comes to direct EU funds, PN MEP candidate Peter Agius said. He lamented Malta's bad track record when it comes to win- ning direct funds from the EU, whereby companies and busi- nesses apply directly with the European Commission in Brus- sels in a competitive setting. "Countries or regions the size of Malta have won 10 to 15 EU- funded projects while Malta has the lowest rate of participation in funding instruments designed for small and medium-sized en- terprises (SMEs), winning a to- tal of five last year," he said. Agius was speaking at a PN press conference held just out- side the Mosta Technopark. He explained how 75% of the EU budget is allocated directly to the ministries of member states. The rest, the 25%, is handed to competitive associations, in- dustries and businesses which the European Commission feels have the best proposals. "We need to empower Maltese businesses to increase our suc- cess rate with these direct funds. We should be able to adapt these funds better to Maltese businesses," Agius said, adding that foreign regions such as the Danube area in Germany had cities joining forces with busi- nesses and universities to sub- mit the best European projects, attracting millions in EU funds. Agius told MaltaToday that the next EU budget aims to fo- cus more on research, innova- tion and digitalisation of SMEs and that if Malta is to stand a chance, the country had to start investing in alliances between education, industries and for- eign markets. "Our absorption of funding in research and innovation is also at the bottom of the graph. This creates a vicious cycle which makes it difficult to tap into the new areas of technology, digi- talisation and innovating, which will be strong components in the next EU budget, with €9.2 billion earmarked for digitali- sation, AI and robotics alone," Agius said. He lamented that EU tools are sometimes difficult to access due to conditions tailored to foreign scenarios and that this was why MEPs had the duty to speak on behalf of Malta at the European parliamentary com- mittees when the EU budgetary instruments will come up for amendments. PN spokesperson for EU funds Robert Cutajar and PN spokes- person for SMEs Edin Vassallo were also in attendance at the press conference. Vassallo said that the govern- ment was making a profit from the Individual Investors Pro- gram (IIP) and the construction industry, where, he said, 12,000 planning permits were approved in 2018. Quoting from the Central Bank of Malta's quarterly re- view published on Tuesday, he said that "confidence has edged down marginally in the indus- try and retail sector", lament- ing how he had met with many businesses in recent years that were far from doing well. Malta needs to up its game, PN MEP says Peter Agius: 'Our MEPs need to speak for Malta because Malta's specific conditions need to be catered for' EU funding CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 A foreign ministry spokesper- son directed questions about the meeting to the Office of the Prime Minister, describing Sceberras Trigona as a special envoy under the OPM's pur- view. MaltaToday has also asked whether there was any clear knowledge at government lev- els of the Sceberras Trigona meeting in Moscow. Questions were also sent to Malta's ambassador to Russia Pierre Clive Agius who said re- plies were being coordinated by the Foreign Ministry. The news came a day after Buzzfeed reported that Malta refused a Russian request to use its airspace to fly military aircraft from Syria to Venezue- la this month. It reported that "the move comes weeks after Malta, a member of the Euro- pean Union, approved a similar Russian request". Buzzfeed quoted a senior diplomat saying that the new request from Russian was made through its embassy in Malta last week, asking for clearance to fly two military aircraft over Malta between 16 and 19 April. The website claimed that a senior diplomatic source sug- gested that Russia had not taken the rejections well and that the country was expected to retaliate by targeting Prime Minister Joseph Muscat with a misinformation campaign dur- ing or after next month's par- liamentary election campaign. Government sources who spoke to MaltaToday con- firmed Buzzfeed's claims that two flights had been denied permission to use Maltese air- space. Government sources confirm two Russian flights were denied airspace access Foreign ministry refers questions to OPM citing Sceberras Trigona's special envoy status DAVID HUDSON OPPOSITION leader Adrian Delia accused Transport Minister Ian Borg of being 'indecent' and that he had taken the law in his own hands. Delia insisted that this was so because Borg had exonerated himself from a magisterial in- quiry on the fatal Imgarr incident where two people lost their lives. The PN leader was speaking at a political activ- ity at the Gzira band club where he opened his speech with an attack on the Transport Minis- ter. "Ian Borg exonerated himself from political responsibility and from the magisterial inquiry that left two people dead. How dare he? He's taking the law into his own hands to guarantee that justice won't be done," Delia said, adding that Borg's behaviour was an example of how the government had no idea what good govern- ance was. The accident took place on Sunday evening on a road that is currently being widened. One of the cars ended up in a ditch, two people lost their lives. Infrastructure Malta has denied that its road- works had in any way contributed to the col- lision and has said that the head-on collision occured in an area where no works are taking place with roadside signs warning motorists of current works taking place ahead. Delia spoke about rents, poverty, and the Greco report at the political activity and said that Prime Minister Joseph Muscat was going to leave wreckage in his wake. He appealed to Nationalist Party supporters to go out and vote in the upcoming MEP and local council elections in May. Delia attacks minister for 'exonerating himself' from Imgarr incident inquiry Opposition leader Adrian Delia accused Ian Borg of 'indecent' behaviour

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