When hedging agreements had resulted in higher prices in the past, these had been borne by the state energy provider, Opposition leader Simon Busuttil said today.

Speaking following a meeting with the social partners to discuss energy prices this morning, Dr Busuttil said he did not expect end consumers to front the expense of the government's failings in the fuel hedging agreement.

The PN has filed a parliamentary motion calling for a discussion on fuel prices and is insisting these are “substantially” reduced with “immediate effect”

During the meeting with the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development, which was not attended by the General Workers’ Union, Dr Busuttil said the high fuel prices were also negatively affecting industry.

He said that if the government did not respond to its call for Parliament to discuss fuel prices, the Opposition would use its parliamentary powers to dictate the agenda for a debate on Thursday.

 

The MCESD is scheduled to discuss the prices with Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi on February 9.

The ministry’s decision follows a story in Times of Malta today saying the council was still waiting for a date from the minister.

Chairman John Bencini told the newspaper that as soon as the council received the request for a meeting to address this issue, it asked the minister to see whether he could attend the meeting and make a presentation.

Commenting on the minister's meeting this morning, Dr Busuttil this morning questioned why such an important meeting had to wait another week.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.