Updated | EU funds office issuing call for vacancies

Updated | The parliamentary secretary for EU funding Ian Borg has disputed claims by Nationalist MP Ryan Callus of vacancies inside the planning division for EU funds.

Borg said that upon Labour taking office, the PPCD (Planning and Priorities Coordination Division) had 12 vacancies in the divisions responsible for EU funds, and that only three officials from the PPCD were seconded to the government ministry.

"I have set up an EU & Special Projects Unit in the contracts department to hasten tendering work on infrastructural projects tied to millions in EU funding, and which had fallen behind in progress. This unit is already generating results and various tenders have started being approved," Borg said.

Borg also confirmed that the call for applications to fill the PPCD vacancies will be issued in the coming days, to address a human resources shortage inside the department.

Earlier, Callus claimed Borg was not doing his utmost in proposing a concrete way of securing €200 million which he had alleged could be lost from the 2007-13 EU budgetary framework.

Borg, who is also responsible for Malta's EU presidency in 2017, said that the island could lose up to €200 million in EU funds that were left unclaimed due to a lack of projects. The money forms part of structural and cohesion funds from the EU's 2007-2013 financial framework.

On his part, Callus has taken a dim view of Borg's complaints. "Borg should be focused on ensuring Malta does not lose out on any funds. Instead of talking about reducing bureaucracy on EU funds, Borg has not proposed anything concrete as to what will happen."

Callus said that since the Planning and Priorities Coordination Division that processes EU funds applications falls under Borg's responsibility, the parliamentary secretary should have seen to the vacancies created by five PPCD officials who had since joined the private secretariats of government ministers. "The Opposition calls on the government to hasten the selection process for these vacancies, and for the government to pull up its socks and secure these EU funds."