The Office of the Prime Minister this evening denied reports claiming that the prime minister had confirmed that the European Commission would take Malta before the European Court of Justice over emissions from Marsa power station.

The report did not reflect the prime minister's comments of the position of the European Union as given to the government, the OPM said.

It said that the position had not changed from what was publically explained last June. The only difference was that the government had, in August, replied to the Commission's Reasoned Opinion.

The government was not informed of any European Union decision to take the case to court.

The OPM explained that in his comments, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said it was well known that the European Union had told Malta that the Marsa power station had to close. That was also what the Maltese government wanted, but alternatives had to come on stream. The alternative was the power interconnector with Sicily.

This was a process which took two years and involved the call for tenders, talks and procedures in Italy and the actual works.

Malta had informed the European Commission that this process took longer than expected because of circumstances over which the government had no control.

Th EU had warned of court proceedings but the government hoped that such proceedings would not start and the Commission would wait a bit longer until the cable was commissioned in early 2014.