‘We will strive to obtain agreement Malta deserves’ – Abela

Prime Minister Robert Abela said the government will strive to obtain an agreement it deserves.

Speaking in Brussels, where he is attending a European leaders’ summit to discuss the EU’s budget for the next seven years with particular attention to the post-Covid-19 situation, Abela said the aim is to obtain the best agreement possible in spite of the fact that the criteria being uses work against us.

The Maltese government will be insisting that its share of the agreement will be better than that obtain for the current seven years, which come to an end in December. Under Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi, Malta had obtained €1.12 billion for the period 2014-2020.

“It is not easy because the numbers are against us, but we will persevere,” Abela said.

He said that the summit had started well on Friday but during the course of the day the situation got worse because of lack of agreement.

On Saturday, it was clear that the problems were too difficult to overcome at that point and the summit was extended to Sunday.

The main issue, Abela said, was not the budget for the next seven years but the recovery fund for Covid-19.

 

Source: Independent Malta ‘We will strive to obtain agreement Malta deserves’ – Abela
{$excerpt:n}