Labour insists on transparency in power station correspondence

The Labour Party has called on the government to publish correspondence exchanged with the European Commission over the controversial extension of the Delimara power station.

Brussels sent a letter of formal notice to the government in June – the first of a three-pronged EU legal procedure – claiming Malta broke EU procurement rules when awarding the controversial €200 million tender to Danish company BWSC.

The government was given a deadline, August 4, within which to respond but so far the exchange has remained confidential.

Labour’s spokesman for European affairs Luciano Busuttil said it was not enough for the Prime Minister to say that the documents would be made public at some point.

“In cases like these, in the interest of transparency and accountability, the timing of publication is as important as the publication itself,” he said, stressing that if the government continued to delay the matter the country would be left with an “autopsy on a done deal”.

It was The Sunday Times that broke the story about the Commission’s questions earlier this month.