“Government must stop trying to hide the extent of the loss of EU funds on the Safi Aviation Park project. After an €11 million loss on the Coast Road Project and more lost on the Cittadella project, the Government now refuses to tell the public how much of their taxes will have to be used to bail them out on the Safi Aviation Park project," Shadow Minister for Foreign and European Affairs Roberta Metsola said today.

Roberta Metsola was talking after news broke that the Labour Government had failed to meet deadlines with the Safi Aviation Park project which has led to yet another loss of EU funds for Malta. 

Roberta Metsola said “It is unacceptable that the Government refuses to quantify exactly how much will be lost on this project and why the delays occurred. The total lack of transparency is symptomatic of an administration that is used to governing in the shadows - it is almost as if they are buying time to paper over their mistakes".

"It is not a one-off. This is happening too often. EU funds are being lost and Malta has to foot the bill. We faced the situation with the Coast Road and Cittadella projects and now again with the Aviation Park. I hope that we will not continue to hear of other EU-funded projects where the same has happened."

Shadow Minister for the Economy Claudio Grech underlined the heightened relevance of the aviation industry in Malta and that the country cannot afford to jeopardise its further evolution and growth. 

"The Aviation Park is a crucial infrastructural element for the proliferation of the sector and the further creation of value-added jobs in the aviation engineering industry. Avoidable project delays and the jeopardy of EU funds are seriously detrimental to the profile of the industry and government should not be complacent in addressing the shortfalls with urgency," said Claudio Grech.

The aviation engineering industry is an economic pillar which has been created by the previous Nationalist administrations  and has now transformed into a mainstay for the new economy of Malta. 

Appealing to the Government, Roberta Metsola said “EU Funds are essential for an island like Malta, and they must be managed properly. The Opposition is ready to work with everyone to ensure that funds allocated to Malta are used in the best possible way and we call on Government to act transparently and diligently, and to tackle the issues in this area.”