Malta in favour of Commission's FP7 proposal
Malta fully supports the European Commission's proposal on the Seventh Framework Programme (FP7), Maltese Competitiveness and Communication Minister Censu Galea has declared. Speaking during the Competitiveness Council, which took place in Brussels on 10 May, Mr Galea said Malta welcomes the Commission's proposal as it focuses on further encouraging and assisting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), according to The Times of Malta. As Mr Galea explained, assistance to SMEs for developing cross-border activities are extremely important for Malta, as are measures to facilitate access to funding and increased participation in EU programmes. Malta 'welcomes the way the allocated budget is distributed [as it] shows the importance being attached to entrepreneurship and innovation in particular,' The Times of Malta reports Mr Galea as saying. Malta continues to support the choice of projects on the basis of community value-added, said Mr Galea, but calls for particular attention to be given to micro-enterprises and SMEs from island Member States on the periphery of the EU. 'Malta's geographical position on the periphery of the community does make it more difficult to form part of a project in collaboration with another Member State, especially for SMEs,' added Mr Galea. 'To this end, sufficient flexibility needs to be built into the framework programme so as to ensure it can cater for the specific needs of island Member States, ' he concluded.
Countries
Malta