“I am very pleased to note that the Council has already classified Malta as being under the preventive arm rather than the corrective arm, thus confirming that Malta is expected to exit from the current excessive deficit procedure early next year.”

 

PRESS STATEMENT BY THE MINISTRY FOR FINANCE

 

This was stated by Minister for Finance Professor Edward Scicluna at the end of the Eurogroup session meeting in Brussels, held on the 8th December 2014, discussing the Commission’s Opinion on the Draft 2015 Budget of the Eurozone Member States. During the session Malta 2015 Budget was approved.

The Eurogroup statement acknowledged that in its assessment the Commission did not incorporate the consolidation measures in the 2015 budget and therefore its recommendation was based on the no-policy change assumption and does not incorporate the consolidation measures announced in the 2015 Budget.

The Council welcomed the commitment of Malta to implement the measures necessary to ensure the 2015 Budget will be compliant with the rules of the preventive arm of the SGP.

The Minister for Finance was accompanied by Ambassador Marlene Bonnici, Permanent Representative of Malta to the EU and the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry for Finance Mr. Alfred Camilleri.

 

– Monday, 8th December, 2014