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EU youth funds’ suspension fully lifted
The suspension of Malta from the European Union’s Education Programmes – Lifelong Learning and Youth in Action has been fully lifted.
On 11 July 2011, after having assessed the Declarations of Assurance submitted by the Maltese authorities, the Commission concluded that the requested remedial actions concerning accounting and controls have been successfully implemented by the Maltese authorities and on the basis of this analysis decided to fully lift the programmes' suspension. This decision is applicable with immediate effect.
This means that agreements can be signed between the Commission and the National Agency for the year 2011; and that the National Agency (EUPA) is now allowed to award grants and sign grant agreements with the candidates who qualify for selection in 2011.
The Commission also recommended other remedial actions that the National Agency needs to undertake in order to ensure the continuity of the progress achieved over the last few months. In this context, the Commission will proceed with payments to EUPA once the identified necessary actions have been carried out. These actions are expected to be carried out in the coming months.
Education minister Dolores Cristina welcomed the Commission’s decision to lift the suspension. This decision proves that the necessary progress had been achieved in the structures involved in the management of these programmes.
“While it is regrettable that the lifting of the suspension has taken so long, I am confident the participation by Malta in such Programmes will immediately return to the levels prior to suspension,” Cristina said.
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I think the EU commissioner for higher education should be informed and investigate all the malpractices that are taking place in the maltese higher education systems such as university and other agencies. The higher education systems in Malta are completely untransparent, lack planning and control, and have no proper standards or benchmarks for comparision.
Things in Malta are managed in a completely unprofessional way by bunches of incompetents who have a lot of titles and letters making them feel better from their inferiority complexes.
