Government says it safeguarded regional state aid

The government is accusing the Opposition of misleading the public on the scale of regional aids that will be distributed in European funds to industry and the island of Gozo.

In a statement, the government said that regional aids faced being zeroed under plans by the Commission in 2012, but were kept at 10-15% for large enterprises until December 2020, when Labour entered into negotiations with the EC. 

“In February 2013, the EC published a draft guideline that clearly showed that regional aids risked going down from 30% to zero – the Nationalist administration at the time held no press conference on this fact.

“Since state aid is the EC’s unique competence, the Maltese government’s insistence together with other countries’ finally saw a reviewed position, which allowed regional aids of 10-15% up until 2020,” the government said.