SUBSIDIES TO DRYDOCKS

With reference to the Malta Labour Party statement issued yesterday 21st September, Government would like to make the following points:

The decision to halt subsidies to the drydocks is unrelated to the issue of Malta’s membership in the European Union. EU membership does not mean that subsidies to the drydocks must cease, but that such aid should be scaled down and packaged in more sustainable forms, such as restructuring aid, and aid for training, innovation and research. Government has already requested a transition period up to the year 2010 in accession negotiations with the EU, in order to give sufficient time for this change in the type and level of aid to take place.

The decision taken by Government was a reaction to events at the said drydocks that were hampering the Yard’s efforts to attract more work and become viable.

Government notes with satisfaction that the Malta Labour Party agrees that restructuring within the drydocks is the only way forward and that subsidies need to be reduced. It looks forward to the co-operation of the Labour Party along the hard road to the dockyard’s viability and sustainability that lies ahead.