The opposition this afternoon presented a parliamentary motion calling on the government to publish all documents related to the gas power plant project.

In a meeting with Speaker Anglu Farrugia, PN deputy leader Mario de Marco said that it was unacceptable in a normal democracy for the people to learn about such a unique €88 million state guarantee to a private company from the newspapers.

The guarantee was revealed by The Sunday Times of Malta  last December.

Dr de Marco said the government was keeping everyone in the dark over the commitments it entered into with Electrogas for the power station, which was actually meant to be completed last March.

Claudio Grech, shadow minister for economic affairs, said that two years after the announcement of the project, no one knew when it would be ready, at what rates Enemalta would purchase electricity from it for the next 18 years and what happened to the state guarantee if the EU did not give its green light.

The Speaker, Anglu Farrugia, said that transparency is an essential part of any democracy.

In a reaction, the Energy Ministry said the energy sector has made a turnaround in the past two years and it looked forward to debating the sector in Parliament.

The energy sector has achieved a major turnaround in the past 2 years. Government looks forward to every opportunity to discuss developments in the sector including in Parliament.

"The Nationalist Party is still in denial on the results achieved and still cannot accept that tariffs have been reduced for families and businesses," the ministry said.

On the guarantee for the power station project, the ministry said this mechanism is only temporary until a Security of Supply Agreement between the government and Electrogas is approved by the European Commission.

Government support through the Security of Supply Agreement was an intrinsic part of the competitive process which led to the award to Electrogas, the ministry said. 

"The Guarantee was issued in accordance with the Commission Notice on State Aid in the form of Guarantees and was approved by the State Aid Monitoring Board. The Guarantee followed due process," the ministry said.

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