Parliamentary Secretary for European Funds Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi participated in a high-level video conference for EU ministers responsible for the cohesion policy. The ministers discussed financial instruments that the European Union is making available through its Cohesion Policy and the Recovery Plan.
In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the European Union provided additional instruments to regenerate the European economy as whole, ensuring no country is left behind. Amongst these instruments there are the Recovery and Resilience Facility (RRF) and the REACT-EU.
During the video-conference, Parliamentary Secretary Zrinzo Azzopardi together with other representatives discussed how these recovery instruments will be utilised to ensure that the current and upcoming challenges are addressed. The cohesion policy has been instrumental in enabling economic, social and environmental development across Member States. The Parliamentary Secretary stated that it remains necessary that the cohesion and structural policy continues to play its part in meeting the challenges that the Union is called to face in the next financial framework.
Through the years, Malta has demonstrated how the cohesion policy can provide strategic investments which make a real difference. In the next programming period, Malta will continue to seize these opportunities so that the €2.25 billion package successfully negotiated by Prime Minister Robert Abela will have the maximum impact on the economy and the well-being of Maltese society.