Today, the Commission has endorsed a positive preliminary assessment of Malta's third payment request for €48.7 million under the Recovery and Resilience Facility , the centrepiece of NextGenerationEU.
Following its assessment of the payment request, submitted by Malta on 12 December 2024, the Commission has preliminarily concluded that Malta has satisfactorily completed the 24 milestones and targets set out in the Council Implementing Decision for the third instalment.
The payment request supports 15 reforms and 9 investments designed to benefit citizens and businesses in Malta. The reforms include increasing the number of people with access to free public transport, fostering digital skills, and strengthening Malta's anti-money laundering framework. The investments include medical equipment for the health system, equipment for the digitalisation of the justice system, and signing contracts for provision of electric vehicles for the private and public sectors.
Flagship measures in this payment request include:
- A reform to provide a neonatal hearing screening programme to identify newborns at risk of hearing loss early in life, providing opportunities for timely interventions.
- An investment to build a new near carbon neutral school. It is meant to serve as a pilot project for future investments and to show best practices when it comes to optimising air quality, reducing energy consumption, and increasing the use of renewable energy.
Next steps
The Commission has now sent its preliminary assessment of Malta's fulfilment of the milestones and targets required for this payment to the Economic and Financial Committee (EFC), which has four weeks to deliver its opinion. The payment to Malta can take place following the EFC's opinion, and the adoption of a payment decision by the Commission.
Background
The Maltese recovery and resilience plan includes a wide range of investment and reform measures. The plan will be financed by €328.2 million in grants.
You can find more information on Malta's Recovery and Resilience plan , which features an interactive map of projects financed by the RRF, as well as on the Recovery and Resilience Scoreboard
