Thursday’s inauguration of the electricity interconnector between Sicily and Malta by Joseph Muscat and his Italian counterpart Matteo Renzi is an important milestone in the development of the country’s energy sector.
The aim of the Malta-Sicily interconnector is to contribute to a diversified mix of energy sources by providing the country with access to electricity generated in Sicily and other regions in mainland Europe. It is an important upgrade of Malta’s electrical infrastructure and fits in well with the European Union’s movement towards a single market for energy.
The energy sector has been given much importance by this government and Dr Muscat said on Thursday that preliminary studies for a gas pipeline from Italy were at an advanced stage.
Enemalta, which was in a dire financial situation when the government assumed office, is being restructured and Shanghai Electric has invested €320 million into the company, giving it a 33 per cent shareholding and a majority stake in the BWSC plant.
Of course, the government has not kept its target date for the building of a gas-powered electricity plant – thus abandoning a major electoral pledge – and some of its business dealings with international energy companies have clearly lacked an adequate level of transparency. On the whole, however, the government’s drive to radically overhaul the energy sector is a step in the right direction, and the interconnector is an important part of this revamp.
It was a shrewd political move by Dr Muscat to invite his predecessor, Lawrence Gonzi, to the interconnector opening ceremony on Thursday evening, especially as the Prime Minister purposely omitted the Opposition in a clear effort to stir the pot on the last day of campaigning for yesterday’s referendum and local council elections.
It was also ironic that Dr Muscat praised the former prime minister for having the vision to commission the Malta-Sicily project when in office, when he had been so destructively critical of the PN’s energy policy in the past.
Mr Renzi, whose appearance was also a surprise given the horrific shooting of a judge, lawyer and co-defendant in Milan, said projects of this nature sent a message to Europe that the Mediterranean was a “mare nostrum for everybody”.
The latest collaboration between Malta and Italy is a clear example of how the two European countries can work together in the area of energy security. It also shows just how close our two countries have become, both on a bilateral level and within the EU.
They will need to stick together, particularly on the migration issue and on Libya – which, of course, are interrelated.
That the two prime ministers held a joint press conference on the subject underlines the importance of a Libyan solution, and the repercussions of a failure to achieve one, for both Malta and Italy.
The paramount objective is to help achieve some sort of stability, and though there is a little more hope of a ‘partial’ unity government, Europe will need to heed the plea made by Mr Renzi and Dr Muscat to get more involved in assisting the North African State.
As Mr Renzi said, failure to come to terms with the Libyan conflict would be a defeat “for the dignity of European and international institutions”. But for Malta and Italy the issue goes deeper than that.
The current state of affairs is having a crippling effect on companies that do business in Libya as well as leaving the migration issue unchecked. It is therefore in everyone’s interest for a solution to be forthcoming.