European Commission closes two infringements against Malta

The European Union College of Commissioners has closed two infringement proceedings against Malta, increasing the total of infringements closed against Malta this year to nine.

The formal decision was taken today by the College of Commissioners, after being satisfied with Malta’s progress in conforming to EU rules in each case.

One of the two infringements was opened in November 2010, after the European Commission claimed that Malta failed to apply regulations with regard to persons receiving a Maltese statutory social security pension and a civil service pension from another EU Member State. However, subsequent to the arguments put forward by Malta, the European Court of Justice dismissed the Commission’s action entirely and closed the infringement procedure since there was no breach of EU rules as was initially claimed by the Commission.

The second infringement was opened in October 2015, and was related to the implementation of directives on driving examiners. The Commission opened this infringement following an examination of the transposition measures and enquired how the Maltese authorities ensure quality and arrange periodic training arrangements.

The Maltese authorities provided the Commission with an updated training programme, the official tests that driving examiners undertake, together with quality assurance and periodic training arrangements. The European Commission was satisfied with the measures undertaken by Malta and therefore closed the infringement.

A spokesperson for the Ministry for European Affairs and Implementation of the Electoral Manifesto pointed out that, according to the latest Commission’s ‘Monitoring the Application of Union Law - 2014 Report’, Malta had the second highest resolution rate of EU Pilot (88%), and the fifth best response time, together with Denmark and Hungary (65 days).

Furthermore, Malta only had 16 new infringements opened against it (fourth across the EU), the third best number of open infringements cases (18 cases), and the lowest number of late transpositions of EU Directives (5 cases).

“Whilst the effective application of EU law is essential, if the EU is to meet its objectives, the Maltese government also believes that it has a duty to enhance the credibility of EU institutions in the eyes of Maltese citizens and the public at large,” deputy prime minister Louis Grech said commenting on the commissioners’ decision.

He added that a continuous effort is being made by the ministry for European affairs and implementation of the Electoral Manifesto in order to improve Malta’s results and performance.

 “The less infringements we have, and the more we satisfactorily close, the higher will be our citizens’ faith in the European project,” Grech said.