Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1514428
9 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 14 JANUARY 2024 NEWS OPEN CALLS FOR PROJECT PROPOSALS IMPORTANT NOTICE • Call IV: Investing in Specialised Recreational Facilities for Persons with a Disability or Illness and their Families, launched under Priority 3, RSO 4.5 of the ERDF/CF/JTF Programme 2021-2027 on 22 nd October 2023. • Call V: Setting up of Industrial Facilities, Including the Development of a Business Incubation Centre, launched under Priority 1, RSO 1.3 of the ERDF/CF/JTF Programme 2021-2027 on 22 nd October 2023. • Call VI: Enhancing and Valorising Malta's Tourism Product, launched under Priority 3, RSO 4.6 of the ERDF/CF/JTF Programme 2021-2027 on 5 th November 2023. Clarification on the need for Financial Studies The following financial studies are required depending on the value of the project being proposed and whether the project is expected to generate revenue: - Financial Assessment in the case of revenue-generating projects up to €1,000,000; - Financial Feasibility Study for all projects from €1,000,001 up to €5,000,000; or - Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA) for all projects exceeding €5,000,001. Applicants are also to submit together with their project proposal, the relevant checklists for the Financial Studies to be completed by the Applicant and the Consultant that prepared the applicable financial study. These documents can be accessed through the following link: https://fondi.eu/important_documentat/erdf-cf- templates/ Extension of Closing Date for Project Proposals The Managing Authority would like to notify interested applicants that, following this notice, the closing date for the below three calls is being extended accordingly: • Call IV: Investing in Specialised Recreational Facilities for Persons with a Disability or Illness and their Families is being extended from 2 nd February 2024 until 22 nd March 2024, noon. • Call V: Setting up of Industrial Facilities, Including the Development of a Business Incubation Centre is being extended from 2 nd February 2024 until 22 nd March 2024, noon. • Call VI: Enhancing and Valorising Malta's Tourism Product is being extended from 16 th February 2024 until 5 th April 2024, noon. For further information, the Managing Authority can be contacted via email at fondi.eu@gov.mt. THE private hospitals group Steward, whose multi-million deal in Malta was rescinded by a Maltese judge, has filed a damag- ing lawsuit against MaltaToday and journalist Matthew Vella, in Spain. The lawsuit, alleging defama- tion from the newspaper's report on allegations made by short sellers and financial investigators Viceroy, is demanding €25,000 in damages from the newspaper. The prohibitive costs of any lawsuit in a foreign court, made in the wake of Steward Healthcare's call to the Maltese government to have Vella himself investigated over his report back in February 2023, amount to a SLAPP action (strategic lawsuit against public participation). "This is a serious matter that undermines our right to exer- cise free journalism," Mediato- day managing director Saviour Balzan and MaltaToday Execu- tive Editor Kurt Sansone said, in a letter to the Prime Minister of Malta alerting the government to the SLAPP action. "In light of the proposals made by the Committee of Media Ex- perts last year, and other requests made to the government by the Institute of Maltese Journalists and other Maltese and interna- tional organisations for the intro- duction of an anti-SLAPP law, it is now opportune that the Mal- tese government kick-starts this process as soon as possible to en- sure the Maltese media and jour- nalists have legal protection from SLAPP cases," the letter reads. Sansone told MaltaToday the action instituted by Steward in Spain not only threatened the journalist's right to freedom of expression but risked stifling public participation in a debate of national interest. "We stand four- square behind Matthew Vella, who was only exercising his right to bring to the public's attention a matter that was pertinent to the ongoing controversy in Malta," Sansone added. Spanish lawsuit Steward Health Care Interna- tional (SCHI), now based in Ma- drid, was running three Maltese state hospitals in a controversial public-private concession that suffered a court-ordered rescis- sion in 2023. The matter is now the subject of international arbi- tration between Steward and the Maltese government. In February 2023 – shortly be- fore the rescission case – Stew- ard accused Matthew Vella of "colluding" with Viceroy, by re- porting on its allegations that American real estate giant Med- ical Properties Trust (MPT) and Steward had over-inflated asset values in various business trans- actions. MPT is suing Viceroy in the United States over these alle- gations. Vella reported on the allega- tions made by Viceroy, which claimed Steward and MPT had over-inflated asset values. In their Spanish lawsuit, Stew- ard take issue with MaltaToday's reporting of the Viceroy reports and set the cost to their interna- tional reputation at €25,000. If found guilty, Steward want the Spanish court to order MaltaTo- day to communicate the decision in the Financial Times, Le Soir, and the Wall Street Journal. MaltaToday and Vella are now in procedural default of the claim, having been unable to notify the Spanish court with a legal reply within 20 days of the lawsuit be- ing filed. Steward knew in advance of re- port Vella, who had already queried Steward back in February 2022 about a separate joint venture be- tween its management and MPT, shared with Viceroy's researchers the comments he had received from the hospitals' Malta spokes- person at the time. Viceroy's research, based on Maltese, English, and Spanish company filings, alleged that SCHI is connected to Steward Systems and MPT in the United States, by means of a small group of Delaware companies called Manolete. Vella then requested a comment from SCHI's media representa- tives in Malta, JPA, on the Vice- roy reports about MPT. JPA first said the hospital group would not comment on the allegations; then came back with a comment, which was reported in full. Vella also told the JPA representative that he had shared the original reply from SCHI he had received back in February 2022 with Vice- roy, which were published in their latest report on MPT. Steward threaten €25,000 SLAPP against MaltaToday Hospitals group that lost multi- million deal in Malta files €25,000 damages claim in Spanish court against MaltaToday and journalist