Malta Business Bureau welcomes €48m support from EU during Covid-19 crisis

The Malta Business Bureau welcomes the approval of emergency measures by the Council of the EU and the European Parliament to provide support during the Covid19 crisis.

Following Council’s approval last week, on Friday the European Parliament met for an emergency session in order to approve the Corona Response Investment Initiative, a €36bn package made available by the EU to member states, earmarking €48m for Malta.

“The approval of this emergency legislation comes at a crucial time, as it allocates further much-needed financial resources to member states in order to support SME’s working capital, boost short-term employment schemes and also provide added liquidity for expenditure in the health sector to strengthen the response to Covid19. It is hoped that these funds will be in addition to those already committed by government to support the local economy and jobs,” explained MBB president Simon De Cesare.

The EU co-legislators also approved the temporary suspension of EU rules that oblige airlines to operate 80% of their take-off and landing slots in order to retain them. The current rules led to a situation where airlines were wasting precious resources to operate empty so-called “ghost flights” in order to ensure the retention of their valuable airport slots rather than cancel.

“Such a rule, in times of inexistent demand, is incredibly inefficient due to the massive operation cost involved for no revenue, while also occupying the aircraft themselves on meaningless missions rather than dedicating them towards relief and repatriation efforts,” expanded De Cesare. “The temporary suspension of these rules is very much welcome, particularly for small airlines such as Air Malta.”

The MBB will keep following EU developments during this crisis for the benefit of Maltese businesses.