Malta secures important EU deal on eurozone rescue fund contributions

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi secured an important deal for Malta with the European Union, that aims to give small member states favourable conditions when contributing towards a permanent eurozone rescue fund.

25 March 2011, 12:00am
by Karl Stagno-Navarra

1 min read

As EU leaders met in Brussels last night amid fears that Portugal will need a €70 billion bailout, Malta, Estonia, Slovakia and Slovenia managed secure a final deal with other eurozone members, obtaining special conditions on their contributions.

After four hours of meetings, Prime Minister Gonzi stressed with reporters that “a deal has been reached to Malta’s liking”.

Malta, Estonia, Slovakia and Slovenia argued for a change in the formula that determines their contribution towards a €700 billion European Stability Mechanism (ESM), which is expected to be a permanent bailout mechanism taking effect from mid-2013 onwards.

The proposed contribution formula was worked out on population weighting and GDP, but it disadvantaged small member states like Malta, as calculations proved that it would have been required to contribute more on a per capita basis when compared to bigger and economically stronger member states.

The EU summit continues today with a discussion on the Libya crisis and strengthening their call for Col. Gaddafi to step down and "relinquish his power immediately.”

More from Karl Stagno-Navarra

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If any thanks are forthcoming they should be addressed to Profs Scicluna who insisted on the special concessions given to small countries like Malta.

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I would not call this an important EU deal . In view of the 100 million per year and the ir-rebbiegha dejjem that we were promised before the EU referendum. So for the general public Gonzipn, as usual obtained nothing, because according to the PN's pre-referendum statements, Malta is never to make use of these funds. One sure thing is that we would have to pay more taxes to contribute to this fund to make good for the failures of the Greeks, the Irish, the Portuguese and God knows how many more to follow.

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Good thing lest we become ourselves bankrupt by these bail outs!