Brussels warns Malta about higher tariffs for foreigners

The European Commission has warned it will launch infringement procedures against Malta if it is established that the higher water and electricity rates being paid by a number of foreign residents amounts to discrimination.

Almost 20,000 foreign residents in Malta are being charged tariffs 30 per cent higher than those paid by Maltese residents, according to two MEPs who filed the complaint.

According to the information given to the Commission, Enemalta and the Water Services Corporation are charging a number of foreign residents a ‘domestic’ rate rather than the normal ‘residential’ rate charged to all Maltese residents. These are the highest utility rates across the EU, according to Socialist MEPs Proinsias De Rossa and Nessa Childers.

Energy Commissioner Gunter Oettinger said the EU executive would investigate the matter and had asked the Maltese authorities for more information on the issue.

He said if the formula used by the WSC and Enemalta is established to be discriminatory, Malta would be infringing basic EU rules and therefore be subject to legal action.

“The Commission will carefully assess all circumstances, potentially relating to European provisions on the free movement of citizens, to energy law and tax law.

“In particular, the Commission would draw attention to the provisions of Article 18 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of nationality between citizens of the Union with regard to matters within the scope of application of the treaties.

“The Commission will not hesitate to initiate the infringement procedure provided in Article 258 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU, should this prove necessary,” Mr Oettinger told the two MEPs.

The Sunday Times is informed that Arms Ltd, the organisation responsible for the billing of water and electricity, differentiates between Maltese and foreign residents. However, this is not being done on the basis of nationality, which is illegal under EU rules, but on residential grounds.

According to the current procedure, foreign residents are required to prove they are permanent residents in Malta by submitting income tax declarations and occasionally a marriage certificate in order to qualify for the same water and electricity rates as those being charged to Maltese residents.

The burden of proof rests on the foreign residents while Maltese nationals are presumed to be residing in Malta.

Nationalist MEP Simon Busuttil recently wrote in The Times warning that the way Enemalta and the WSC were charging foreign residents might be discriminatory, thus opening the possibility of a legal challenge to Malta.

He said that according to EU law, discrimination was illegal not just when it was blatant, but also when it was indirect.

“If the ultimate result is that an EU citizen is treated differently – as the final bills clearly demonstrate – then that would still be discriminatory and illegal,” Dr Busuttil said.