EU funded projects are all around us, closer than we think. Whether it’s the upgrading of Malta’s national road infrastructure, improving our educational system, supporting local business enterprises to be more competitive and grow, or else securing our borders, EU funding has been one of the main tools to change our lives for the better.
Initiatives financed by EU funds are intended to contribute towards economic growth, job creation, sustainable development and climate change; all in all it focuses on contributing towards better quality of life to our citizens. Addressing these complex challenges warrants significant amounts of planning and huge efforts are required to ensure that the Funds made available to Malta are used in an efficient and effective manner whilst meeting the expectations of citizens. This is not a task for the faint hearted particularly when one takes into account the never-ending list of regulatory requirements as well as years of discussions with the European Commission to ensure that Maltese and EU priorities are indeed aligned.
Financing an EU project is not a question of getting a cheque; but rather a process which sees a project being implemented: with rigorous checks applied at each and every stage of the project life cycle. The Managing Authority monitors the implementation of every project supported and ascertains that any expenditure incurred is in line with the relevant rules. This means that extensive checks varying from checking of documentation including procurement processes as well as going on site to check that the project has indeed been implemented are undertaken. This is often a timely and human resource intensive task which is undertaken in collaboration with the project owner. During these checks, there may be instances where the Managing Authority determines that some of the expenditure incurred was not in line with the rules. In such instances, the necessary processes are triggered with a view to claim back such expense in a timely manner with a view to safeguard public funds.
Checks in relation to EU funded projects do not stop at implementation stage but continue also at project closure. During this final stage, all projects are required to retain documents for a period after the activity has ended given thar the project can be still subject to an audit.
It is clear that the implementation of EU Funds in our country is not an easy task. Notwithstanding, the implementation of EU Funds is built on robust system which aims towards ensuring transparency and responsibility in the use of EU funds. A system that throughout the years, been proven to work well. The highly complex nature of many of projects supported means that challenges such as delays are bound to arise. This does in no way mean that the project has failed. Indeed, this is the nature of highly complex projects which warrants timely action by various dedicated teams within the public administration who relentlessly work towards ensuring that Malta maximises the benefits of EU membership, also through EU funded initiatives.
Dr Chris Bonett, Parliamentary Secretary for European Funds
