Unacceptable insensitivity

The insensitive way in which the government treated Maltese and Gozitan consumers when it raised the surcharge on water and electricity bills from 50 to 95 per cent was unacceptable, the Labour Party's spokesman on consumer protection, Silvio Parnis, said.

The government had left the people in the dark for 50 days on the surcharge issue and, although Finance Minister Tonio Fenech, in an interview with The Times, had given an indication that the surcharge would increase, he failed to specify by how much. This attitude had led to great uncertainty.

The MLP, Mr Parnis added, believed that the Prime Minister had the duty to publish any studies made on the social and economic impact of the surcharge increase.

The government was also obliged to explain how the decision to effect such an increase was made when, more than once, the government had boasted that it had negotiated a hedging agreement to buy fuel that would cover part of next year, Mr Parnis said.