€7 million saved annually through solar energy schemes

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi told Parliament yesterday that the use of photovoltaic cells led to a saving of €7 million annually in the demand for electricity supply. This was one of the renewable energy schemes launched by the government through EU funds and taxation.

Dr Gonzi was answering questions from opposition members George Vella, Leo Brincat and Alfred Sant, after making a statement informing the House on last month's EU summit which discussed the Europa 2020 initiative and the follow up to the Copenhagen climate change summit.

The government had made investments in renewable energy in 21 different localities. He agreed that the UN had to play a prominent role in future climate change negotiations adding that in Bonn, EU leaders had to try to reach a common position so that a step forward on the Kyoto protocol could be made.

He said that although the Lisbon strategy was very complex and had its defects, Malta had successfully implemented many of its programmes relating to increases in participation employment rates for different categories. The Europa strategy would concentrate on four main targets but not using the one-size-fits-all model.

Malta was making its efforts so that targets reached by every country would be realistic. It was hoped that agreement would be reached by June.

One of the EU targets was to curb poverty. Pointing out that European statistics on people at risk of poverty were different from people living in actual poverty, Dr Gonzi said that the social net in Malta contributed to decreasing the amount of people living in the risk of poverty by 50 per cent.

Dr Gonzi also referred to the approval, earlier this month, by euro-zone ministers of a 30-billion-euro rescue package for debt-ridden Greece should Athens be unable to finance itself. He said that no country was expected to give loans to the Greek government at subsidised rates.

The Greek government had the courage to take severe corrective measures to address the serious economic and financial situation.

This was a lesson that every country had to learn not to postpone corrective measures that had to be taken.

The present Maltese government never failed to take such measures in the common interest, added Dr Gonzi. Malta was to remain prudent in tackling the economic recession to achieve financial viability with a zero deficit.

Concluding, the Prime Minister said Malta agreed with EU governance regulations adopting systems that applied necessary verifications.