Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1535229
KURT SANSONE ksansone@mediatoday.com.mt 4 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 11 MAY 2025 NEWS PRE-ANNOUNCEMENT OF CALL FOR PROJECT PROPOSALS UNDER ASYLUM, MIGRATION AND INTEGRATION FUND (AMIF) 2021-2027 The Ministry responsible for European Funds would like to pre-announce the following call under the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF): Specific Objective 2: strengthening and developing legal migration to the Member States in accordance with their economic and social needs, promoting and contributing to the effective integration and social inclusion of third country nationals. The envisaged call shall cover one of the following funding priorities: reducing language barriers in schools to facilitate integration among children; promoting diversity in the educational sector to address current and future needs of society; cultivating ethnicity in the social and educational sectors; and provision of support services to migrant families to facilitate access in the education system. The call will be launched on 19 th May 2025 and it will close on 31 st July 2025 at noon. The application form, details of eligibility and indicator guideline notes will be made available with the launch of the call. Prospective applicants are encouraged to refer to the AMIF Programme available on https://fondi.eu/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/AMIF-Programme-v-2.0.pdf in order to check whether their proposals are eligible for funding through this call for project proposals. An information session will also be held on the contents of the application form and respective guidelines. For further information, the Managing Authority can be contacted by e-mail on fondi.eu@gov.mt. PN amenable to voting in embassies but lays down conditions THE Nationalist Party agrees that Maltese living abroad should be able to vote in embassies but two conditions have to be met before any changes are prospected. "The PN is in favour of updat- ing the electoral system to allow more options that facilitate the right to vote," a spokesperson said when asked about a propos- al floated recently by European Parliament President Roberta Metsola. The conditions include a reform of the composition and manner by which the Electoral Commis- sion is appointed to ensure it is "truly independent and auton- omous from the government of the day". The second condition is that the commission regains possession of the documentation required to update the electoral registers. This used to be done in the past when the commission had con- trol over the identity cards pro- cess, something that was eventu- ally hived off to Identity Malta. "The c o m m i s - sion needs to have control of the documen- tation that enables it to update the electoral registers and this should be done with full partic- ipation of the political parties," the PN spokesperson told Malt- aToday. He added that the PN was al- ways willing to consider any pro- posal as long as it leads to just elections that are free from illegal acts. In an interview with Lovin Mal- ta, Metsola criticised the fact that at each election Maltese voters who are abroad have to hop on a flight to Malta to be able to vote. She called for an electoral system that allowed Maltese who are working, studying or receiving medical treatment abroad to vote in Maltese embassies. The two major political parties, which traditionally have strong oversight on elections, have al- ways been sceptical of such a move. But now it appears the PN has softened its approach albeit im- posing two significant conditions. In the 2022 general election, the scheme offering subsidised flights to voters residing overseas cost public coffers €1.9 million. Subsidised flights from major Eu- ropean airports have been offered since the 1992 general election. But with Malta joining the EU in 2004, the number of Maltese vot- ers residing overseas has seen a steady increase. Changing the electoral system to be able to vote in Maltese em- bassies abroad would also require new provisions that do away with the voting document. Voters cannot use their ID card as a means of identification when voting but have to produce a voting document published spe- cifically for that election. These voting documents are distribut- ed door-to-door by the police, which would be impractical for overseas voters. Roberta Metsola recently made the case for Maltese living overseas to be able to vote in embassies rather than being forced to catch a subsidised flight to Malta to exercise their right to vote