Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1543384
4 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 22 FEBRUARY 2026 NEWS ANNOUNCEMENT OF CALLS FOR PROJECT PROPOSALS UNDER Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) Strategic Plan for Malta 2023-2027 The Ministry responsible for European Funds has launched a call for project proposals under the following intervention: • Intervention 73.1 On-Farm Non-Productive Investment (Afforestation) The fourth batch of this call will close on Friday 29th May 2026 at noon. Prospective applicants are encouraged to refer to https://fondi.eu/ to access the CAP Strategic Plan, as well as the Guidance Notes and the application form related to this call. For more information about the call, kindly contact Servizzi Ewropej f'Malta (SEM) on info.sem@gov.mt or by calling on 2779 7300. Family measures 'in the coming days' Opposition Leader Alex Borg says Gozo Bishop Anton Teuma was unfairly attacked for remarks on childcare centres, stressing the issue lies with systemic family measures rather than parents CONTINUES FROM PAGE 1 Borg also acknowledged that childcare centres are important and the free childcare scheme was a good initiative, but he also insisted that Teuma meant well with his original comments. "I think he meant that we should help families to enjoy each other more." Borg also said the bishop could have worded his message better. "I still don't think he deserved those attacks. Those who created the problem should focus on how they're going to solve it instead of attacking the bishop." Family measures 'in the coming days' Borg said the Nationalist Party will be announcing new proposals to allow parents to better enjoy the first few years with their child. He said these proposals are being finalised and will be announced "in the coming days". The PN has already proposed increasing paternity leave from 10 to 15 days and maternity leave from 18 to 24 weeks. The party also proposed extending paren- tal leave from eight to 28 weeks, equally divided between both par- ents and non-transferable to pro- mote shared responsibility. Borg had also announced that a PN government would introduce a new tax bracket for parents that would grant €8,500 to families when they have a second child. This was suggested before the Budget 2026 that saw the govern- ment introduce tax cuts for par- ents. Another family-friendly PN pro- posal is a Child Trust Fund that would see a Nationalist govern- ment gift every child an invest- ment policy with initial capital of €5,000. There has been an increased fo- cus on family-friendly measures after both the finance minister and the archbishop warned of falling fertility rates and a result- ing "ethnic extinction" for the Maltese. Since then, the government in- troduced sweeping income tax cuts for parents, particularly those with two or more children. Un- der the new measures, parents with two or more children will, by 2028, pay no income tax on the first €30,000 of earnings. However, the Malta Women's Lobby argued early in 2025 that tax breaks would be insufficient unless paired with broader re- forms addressing work-life bal- ance and gender equity. Reporting by Nicole Meilak During an exchange with the MaltaToday newsroom, Alex Borg (Above) was asked about comments made by Gozo Bishop Anton Teuma on childcare centres Gozo Bishop Anton Teuma Those who created the problem should focus on how they're going to solve it instead of attacking the bishop