Brussels, 21/12/2006 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday, Commissioners Danuta Hübner (regional policy) and Vladimir Spidla (employment and social affairs) congratulated Malta on being the first Member State to have officially agreed its national plan and its priorities in terms of Cohesion Policy 2007-2013 with the European Commission. Malta submitted its National Strategic Reference Framework on 21 November. The document described how EU funding would be used to deliver growth and jobs in the new programming period, which begins on 1st January 2007. The negotiations being completed, the Commission has just published its decision on the various points in the Maltese plan: priorities, indicative annual allocations, and the list of operational programmes. The Commission has called on the other countries to rapidly follow the Maltese example. Austria, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Hungary, Denmark and the United Kingdom have already submitted their National Strategic Reference Frameworks. The remaining Member States must do so as quickly as possible, the Commission stresses. (hb)