Malta’s recovery and resilience plan approved by ECOFIN

Malta’s Recovery and Resilience Plan has just been approved by the EU Council of Ministers for Economic and Financial Affairs, known as ECOFIN.

This step will be followed by the signing the agreement that will allow Malta to start receiving grants in relation to the implementation to the respective investments and reforms, the government said in a statement.

Parliamentary Secretary for European Funds, Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi who participated in the ECOFIN meeting, thanked the European Commission for it’s invaluable assistance in drawing up Malta’s Recoovery and Resilience Plan.

He stated that through this plan, which incorporates a total expenditure of €345 million, of which €316 million are Malta’s grant component from the NextGeneration EU, Malta will implement a vast range of reforms and investments. These seek to address various challenges, including those identified in the Country Specific Recommendations.

The plan contains 30 reforms and 17 investments spread over 6 components. 54% of Malta’s allocation will be invested in initiatives and reforms to address climate change and teh European Green Deal while anoher 26% will be invested in the transition to a digital, smart economy. Main projects include the decarbonisation of private and public buildings, transition to an electric public and private transport, the building of a new ITS Campus, a new Blood, Tissue and Cell Centre and the digitisation of the Law Courts.

The plan includes reforms to further improve Malta’s institutional framework inclduing the independence of specialised tribunals and the continued reinforcement of anti-corruption bodies. In the field of anti-money laundering, Malta’s plan includes also a firm commitment to implement all necessary measures to address any weaknesses identified by the FATF.