A last-minute compromise proposal of a further cut to the EU budget, made by European Council President Herman Van Rompuy last night, should not harm Malta’s prospects of receiving €680 million in new funding, according to Malta’s Prime Minister.
As the summit of EU leaders entered the small hours, it was still unclear whether they would manage to strike a deal over the bloc’s budget for the next seven years.
With some nations demanding more austerity, the amount on the table before the summit had already been cut back to €973 billion from the European Commission’s initial demand of €1.025 trillion.
In an effort to hammer out a deal, the latest compromise text submitted by Mr Van Rompuy has proposed pushing it further down to €912 billion.
However, Lawrence Gonzi, who is leading Malta’s EU budget negotiating team for the second time since becoming Prime Minister, said last night that he was “cautiously optimistic” Malta would manage to obtain a good agreement for itself once again.
“Although it is still too early, there is growing optimism that we will manage to strike a deal.”
Asked whether Malta would succeed in hanging on to the package it had negotiated three...
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