The European Commission has given a partial green light to Malta’s fourth request for €51.5 million in EU recovery funding, after finding one reform milestone had not yet been met.
The assessment covers funding under the Recovery and Resilience Facility, the main programme behind NextGenerationEU — the EU’s post-pandemic recovery package, the Commission said in a release on Friday.
Malta has satisfactorily completed 25 of the 26 milestones and targets linked to the request.
Measures the Commission cited include a literacy support programme for more than 1,000 young students, and the rollout of digital pathology identification systems — equipment and IT used to help analyse medical samples and support diagnoses — in healthcare settings.
The Commission also highlighted a reform transferring prosecution responsibilities for more than 30 categories of offences from the police to the Attorney General’s Office.
One tax planning milestone still outstanding
One milestone linked to an “aggressive tax planning” reform remains unfulfilled, because legal acts to mitigate risks related to inbound and outbound payments have not entered into force, the Commission said.
The Commission has sent its preliminary assessment to the Council’s Economic and Financial Committee, which has four weeks to deliver its opinion.
Malta has one month to submit observations on the missing milestone, and the Commission said it could suspend part of the €51.5 million request if the milestone is ultimately judged not to have been met.
Malta submitted the payment request on 19 December 2025.
