PN welcomes Malta’s participation in European food aid programme

Shadow European affairs spokesperson Roberta Metsola and shadow social policy minister Paula Mifsud Bonnici have welcomed the news that Malta will again participate in the EU’s ‘European Aid to the Most Deprived’ (FEAD) scheme.

“The scheme seeks to help the thousands of Maltese citizens on the breadline who had been waiting for this for some time,” a statement reads.

“With the increased levels of poverty in Malta and Gozo, it is welcome that such a programme that will see the distribution of material assistance, such as food, will again be applied in Malta.”

The statement goes on to explain that for the 2014-2020 period, Malta has been allocated close to €4,000,000 for the programme and it is imperative that those in need are able to access this assistance.

“The last programme using EU funds was operational under a PN-led administration and was forced to some to a halt in February - 11 months ago,” they said adding that the Maltese FEAD programme, approved on 11 December 2014, was delayed due to technical problems encountered during the tender for the provision, packaging and delivery of food and the call for partners organisations, as none of the bids fulfilled the eligibility criteria.

A new procedure then had to be re-launched on 11 June 2015 and the government had then promised that the aid would begin to be distributed by September only to be delayed again,” they said, adding that this shows that the Labour Government is strong with the weak and weak with the strong.

The PN further expressed its hopes that given the nature of the FEAD intervention aiming at the most deprived EU citizens, the delays in the implementation of the Fund would not be repeated, and urged a fast implementation of the programme in order to ensure that the aid reaches those at risk of poverty without further delay.

The party also further pointed out that the government had chosen to stop NGOs from distributing the material and that it had restricted the task to the Foundation for Social Welfare Services

“The distribution of such food served as a direct contact between the NGOs and families which are on the breadline and which depend on such assistance.”