It is incredible that Maltese citizens are being treated as if they do not form part of the European community. With the excuse that the presidency involves 28 EU member states, Maltese cabinet ministers addressing the European Parliament are refusing to answer questions about Malta, as if the country has exited the EU.
It is very convenient for Maltese cabinet ministers to avoid or ignore questions about their country in an effort to hide that Malta is breaching EU rules while it has assumed the EU presidency!
Roberta Metsola, a member of the European Parliament and vice-chair of the parliamentary committee on petitions has asked, among other things, about the limitations to the market in Malta affecting consumers. She asked Economy Minister Chris Cardona when he addressed the Committee on the Internal Market and Consumer Protection meeting, what were the plans of the Maltese government concerning fuel liberalisation, and whether it intended to bring the market in line with Article 37 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.
Although Cardona talked about the single market and competition in his introductory address, he did not have the courage to admit that in Malta there is no competition when it comes to the importation, storage and wholesale of petrol. He did not answer Metsola’s question.
If this government was really pro-business, it would transfer the importation, storage and wholesale of petrol and diesel to the private sector
It was useless for the minister to talk about removing barriers to trade and giving consumers more choice, when during the past four years the government has done nothing to offer more choice to consumers in the petrol market.
The minister talked about the benefits of EU membership, which should not be forgotten, but ironically failed to say why Maltese consumers have not started to enjoy such benefits when it comes to the fuel sector.
He also talked about improving consumer protection laws and their enforcement, but it remains to be seen how this is going to be implemented in Malta, where consumers have no protection at all in real terms, in spite of the efforts of the Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority.
In his response to one of the questions, Cardona mentioned legislation in Malta on family business, which does not exist in the EU. So when it was convenient for him, the minister did not hesitate to refer to the Maltese jurisdiction. It was only the embarrassing issues that were avoided.
Is it not ironic that the minister gives a lot of attention to the need for citizens to enjoy all the benefits of online shopping and against geo-blocking, but then says nothing about the absence of choice for Maltese citizens in the petrol sector? Local citizens are still being discriminated against when it comes to the fuel sector in Malta.
In January this year, the government collected more than €11.5 million in duties and taxes from the sale of petrol and diesel through the state-owned company Enemed. The government does not need to accumulate more profit from such sales through Enemed.
If this government was really pro-
business, it would transfer the importation, storage and wholesale of petrol and diesel to the private sector and ascertain that they compete against each other on a level playing field.
The Malta Automobile Club thanks Metsola for her intervention on behalf of consumers. Those who wish to support petition number 0042/2016 submitted by the club to the European Parliament concerning the absence of competition in the fuel sector, may access the “Show petitions” page of the Committee on Petitions of the European Parliament, enter the keyword “competition”, and select the year “2016” and the country “Malta”.
Alfred Farrugia is president of the Malta Automobile Club.