Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1271696
5 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 22 JULY 2020 NEWS 1 of which 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 of which: 10 Cohesion Policy and Agriculture Cohesion Policy incl.React EU from the Recovery Instrument Agriculture Migration,Borders,Security Education and Fisheries Strategic Investments,R&I, and the Environment Recovery& Resilience, Single Market and European Values Total funding to Malta (1+2+3+4) Administration European Asylum Support Office (EASO) TOTAL ALLOCATION TO MALTA Malta's contribution to EU budget Own Resources Rebates NET BALANCE May/June 2018 Commission Proposal Finnish Presidency Proposal Special European Council 2nd Commission Proposal 2nd Special European Council of which from Recovery Instruments of which from Recovery Instrumenst 05 Dec 2019 20-21 Feb 2020 May 20 17-21 July 2020 793 673 120 263 162 53 1272 61 269 1601 -1359 -1344 -15 242 779 646 132 242 139 48 1206 59 157 1423 -1310 -1295 -15 113 798 673 126 277 148 44 1267 59 386 1712 -1252 -1237 -15 460 865 718 147 319 202 298 1685 60 380 2125 -1222 -1197 -25 903 63 45 18 49 265 377 377 1125 934 191 276 162 242 1805 59 386 2250 -1215 -1159 -56 1035 101 92 9 16 210 327 327 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 "We did not negotiate any new digital tax," he said. Malta will not be subjected to any new Eu- ropean taxes under EU budget and corona- virus recovery funds package which has just been negotiated, Robert Abela said. The Prime Minister was addressing a press conference at Castille yesterday evening, a few hours after Malta received its largest-ever EU funds allocation, €2.25 bil- lion, for the financial period of 2021-2027. The sum includes €1.923 billion from the EU's budget – the multiannual finan- cial framework – as well as €327 million from the newly established recovery pack- age known as Next Generation EU. This amount excludes the loan element in the same package. Asked by MaltaToday whether any taxes on Europe's financial services market would be introduced to generate the funds, Abela said this was not the case. "We did not ne- gotiate any new digital tax," he said. EU Secretariat head Glenn Micallef there wouldn't be any new financial services tax- es. "No new taxes were introduced to make good for the funds," Micallef said. Abela said he was "very satisfied" with the record package Malta had managed to ne- gotiate. The prime minister negotiated a package worth €2.25 billion that includes €1.923 billion from the EU's budget – the multian- nual financial framework – as well as €327 million from the newly established recovery package known as Next Generation EU. This amount excludes the loan element in the same package. The withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union after almost 50 years will lead to a loss of €75 billion to the Union budget during the next seven years. Furthermore, Malta's economic growth means that its GDP per capita compared to the EU average has improved remarka- bly over the last seven years, suggesting it should have obtained less funds than last time. Abela said he had told his counterparts that Malta had unique challenges that are different from those of other member states, and that it should not be penalised for its efforts in recent years to keep unem- ployment low. "Despite Malta's strong economic perfor- mance in recent years, this excellent pack- age means that Malta's net balance from the EU budget will also remain significantly positive for the coming years," Abela said of the own resources Malta will have to pay. The deal means Malta has secured a to- tal of €842 million in funds under the core Cohesion Policy. This amount, that does not include a further €92 million additional funds for ReactEU (Cohesion Policy) from the recovery package, is at least €66 million more than what Malta obtained in Febru- ary 2013 for the 2014-2020 Cohesion Pol- icy. For agriculture, Malta obtained €191 million, or €53 million (38%) more than in 2014-2020. In total, under the traditional EU policies of Cohesion Policy and Agri- culture, which account for around 60% of the total EU Budget, Malta obtained €1.125 billion, compared to €793 million that it would have obtained under the Commis- sion's proposal of 2018. A minimum of 10% of the allocation un- der Cohesion Policy and Agriculture will be earmarked for Gozo, ensuring the island re- ceives more funds overall than it currently has ringfenced under the 2014-2020 financ- ing period. Other key instruments and programmes for Malta include Erasmus+ funds, migra- tion, borders and security funds, and en- vironmental programmes. Overall, the in- dicative allocation which Malta will receive under the 2021-2027 MFF is estimated to be €1.923 billion. This not only compares well with the deal of February 2013 for 2014- 2020 but is actually €795 million higher. Charles Michel press conference "We did it!" - European Council president Charles Michel said at a press conference that started before 6am yesterday morning, after EU leaders agreed on a plan to jointly borrow €750 billion to respond to the coro- navirus pandemic. After four days of tough negotiations, the EU's recovery fund will be composed of €390 billion in grants and €360 billion in loans, attached to a new €1.074 trillion sev- en-year budget, the Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), on which heads of state and government also reached unanimous agreement — bringing the total financial package to €1.82 trillion. Michel heralded the agreement with a one-word tweet: "Deal!" he wrote. He later told the press, "Europe is strong. Europe is united!... We have demonstrat- ed that the magic of the European project works because when we think that it is im- possible there is a spring in our step thanks to respect and cooperation." Despite a pandemic that has killed 135,000 people around the bloc and shut down economies, spending on health was reduced in the final deal. France and Germany originally proposed a €500 billion debt-for-grants programme back in May, which the European Commis- sion adopted, and added a €250 billion loan programme. Giuseppe Conte, the prime minister of Italy which has been hit particu- larly hard by the crisis, said it was "a historic moment for Europe." But countries, mainly the self-declared Frugal Four of Austria, Denmark, the Neth- erlands and Sweden, strongly opposed the idea of taking on debt to issue recovery grants. The least supportive of the deal was Neth- erlands PM Mark Rutte, who managed to win agreement over a governance model for the deal, whereby governments can trigger a stop on disbursements if a government has not fulfilled reform proposals. Malta secures total of €842 million under core Cohesion Policy Malta's Net Balance from the EU Budget 2021-2027 Charles Michel