Fenech says EFSF will be ratified

“The Opposition has already declared through its leader that it will declare its support to the vote. Sant wanted to pick on a technical issue that I felt was more resolvable by allowing the Opposition to have the contract in hand so that if they have any question to ask it can be done,” Fenech said.

Alfred Sant repeatedly questioned the legality for approving the EFSF, which was originally approved by an act in July last year, and the amendment was to provide for the extension of the facility.

Finance Minister Tonio Fenech moved the bill which went into second reading, but when the bill was debated in committee, Alfred Sant flagged an updated text of the EFSF agreement had not been presented along with the resolution that authorises its approval. He added that the text needed to be examined in light of new obligations for Malta.

At this point, the finance minister replied that once the resolution stated that it had to be tabled, then it was, adding also his certainty that a draft memorandum had been passed onto the Opposition. Sant subsequently confirmed however that the draft was in fact received by the Opposition but the amendments were not clear and requested plenty of clarifications.

Acting Speaker Censu Galea, who presided the committee, had to suspend the sitting until 11 p.m. while he ordered the clerks of the House to find the record. Galea returned with a negative reply but added that the Attorney General advised him that since the resolution  stated that the bill had been presented to the House, there was absolutely no question about the  legality of the process.

Sant however, insisted that there was nothing to demonstrate or prove that the bill was in fact tabled, and to him as an MP, it posed serious legal questions.

Through the bill, Malta is to extend its guarantees to the EFSF to €700 million, while also lending a further €24 million to Greece.

Finance Minister Tonio Fenech said that €80 billion has been already loaned to Greece through the first bailout by the eurozone countries, including Malta, under a series of bilateral agreements, however the country needs further assistance through the EFSF.

Malta’s payments totalled €19m in 2010 and €20m for this year. Another payment of €5m this month has been postponed pending the progress report.

The current exposure to Greece totaled €45million, and possibly will increase to €74 million.  He added that with Portugal, Malta's exposure totalled €6 million, and could increase to €8 million while for Ireland the total was €3.6m and could rise to €5m. In total Malta’s exposure stands at €54 million, and may potentially increase to €87 million.