Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1516098
MATTHEW VELLA mvella@mediatoday.com.mt 12 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 18 FEBRUARY 2024 NEWS ANNOUNCEMENT OF A CALL FOR PROJECT PROPOSALS UNDER European Social Fund+ 2021-2027 The Ministry responsible for European Funds would like to announce that it is launching a call for project proposals in the following area: Priority 2 - Fostering Active Inclusion for All Specific Objective: 4.8 – Active inclusion and employability The call will close on 15 th April 2024 at noon. The online application form for the submission of project proposals and supporting documentation are available on https://fondi.eu/what-funding-is-available/. Prospective Applicants are encouraged to refer to the European Social Fund+ Programme and the Eligibility Guidance Notes in order to check whether their proposals are eligible for funding through this call for project proposals. Further information on this call and on the European Structural and Investment Funds may be obtained from https://fondi.eu/. Any query should be sent by email on fondi.eu@gov.mt. A dedicated information session is being organised on Thursday, 7 th March, 2024 from 14:30 till 17:30 at the offices of Servizzi Ewropej f'Malta – 280, Republic Street, Valletta. For further details, kindly visit the website indicated above where all the call related documentation is available. Agius Saliba on the warpath: 'Importers LABOUR MEP Alex Agius Sal- iba has alleged that small store- keepers and grocers in Malta are unable to stock cheaper goods imported by paral- lel traders, because they are threatened by larger importers into losing access to other ma- jor brands. The MEP this week managed to force the European Com- mission into launching an in- vestigation into food prices in Malta, after Brussels refused to wrest the matter from the na- tional competition authority. But in a petition to the Euro- pean Parliament, Agius Saliba won cross-party vote, from the Left, Greens to the European People's Party, to have the mat- ter investigated by the EC. Agius Saliba claimed an oli- gopoly of powerful distributors on food prices – he specifical- ly named Alf. Mizzi & Sons (AMSM) and Francis Busuttil & Sons as the major players in the market – controlled over 50% of food product imports with some 300 brands. "I'm not alleging a cartel here, but these distributors are so large that they alone control the market, and this alone should trigger an Article 102 case." An Article 102 investigation assesses whether a company is dominant in any market and whether anti-competitive prac- tices are in play. Agius Saliba also alleged that major importers were coercing storekeepers into refusing to stock brands imported by par- allel traders at a cheaper price. "They affix hologram stickers on their products to differen- tiate them from those import- ed by smaller parallel traders. The shops that dare stock say, the same detergents but at half the price, are threatened by the large importers, who make them pay for their stock in cash, make them pick up the stocks themselves instead of having it delivered, or even re- fuse to sell them other brands. There are no other words for this: they want to bankrupt the parallel traders, break them so that they cannot compete in the market." The MEP told the EP's peti- tions committee that Malta's food price inflation had been increasing since December 2023, contrary to the trend in the rest of the EU, with over half of the 3% inflation ac- counting for food prices alone. He said that even Central Bank deputy governor Alex- ander Demarco had pointed out that the reason for this alone was profiteering, and not scarcity or demand issues. "Can you imagine a situation where you have one particular importer in a major EU state, say in Germany alone, with a market share greater than 50%?" Importers deny 'unsubstantiated' claims of bullying retailers to fend off cheaper parallel imports Alex Agius Saliba