Malta is lobbying for a specific reference to the proposed pipeline linking Malta to the European gas network, in the final declaration of the EU summit in Brussels, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said yesterday.

Speaking ahead of a long night of negotiations on environment issues, Dr Muscat would not commit himself when asked if he was confident about persuading other EU leaders to back Malta’s case.

“The fact that the commissioner-designate for energy Maros Sefcovic made specific reference to Malta during the three-hour grilling session in the European Parliament bodes well,” he said.

The pipeline, which has already been included by the European Commission among a list of 248 key energy infrastructure projects, would stretch some 150 kilometres from Malta to Sicily.

The fact that he made specific reference to Malta bodes well

Labelled as “projects of common interest” (PCI) these may have access to EU funding, as there is a €5.85 billion budget for the period between 2014 and 2020, under the Connecting Europe Facility programme. Failure to tap EU funds would deal a fatal blow to the gas pipeline as its huge financial outlay would be prohibitive for the Maltese government.

Last March EU leaders called for the speedy implementation of all the measures to meet the target of achieving interconnection of at least 10 per cent of their installed electricity production. At present the average EU interconnection level stands at about eight per cent, with the Commission pushing for a further increase to 15 per cent by 2030.

In this context the implementation of PCIs is seen as crucial to strengthen the north-south corridor in the gas sector and thus increase the EU’s bargaining power in energy negotiations.

In December 2012 the Maltese government issued a call for tenders for a €1 million feasibility study on a natural gas pipeline between Malta and Sicily, with 80 per cent of its costs funded by Brussels. Though the study has not yet been concluded, it gains added relevance in the light of the debate about the new gas-fired power station in Delimara.

One of the most controversial aspects of the planned plant is the decision to have a permanently moored Liquified Natural Gas tanker at Marsaxlokk. While the government insisted that this would not compromise the safety of nearby residents, environmental groups and the Opposition called for a safer option, possibly by means of a gas pipeline, even at the cost of delaying the project further.

Meanwhile, EU leaders were last night trying to broker a deal on a framework which would see an EU-wide reduction of 40 per cent of greenhouse emissions by 2030. The proposal, which was presented last January by the EU Commission, also aims to increase the share of renewable energy to 27 per cent of total consumption and raise energy efficiency to 30 per cent, also by 2030.

But with the exception of greenhouse emissions, these are non-binding as they are not expected to translate to any specific national targets. Eastern European countries including Malta are insisting that emission targets must be based on their respective gross domestic product, as was the case for the EU 2020 energy framework. Their argument stems from the fact that this will yield “lower and more attainable emission reduction targets”. But bigger countries are calling for a different mechanism which would include other criteria, and consequently translate to higher targets.

In what was going to be a mere formality the EU Council yesterday was expected to approve the appointment of the new college of commissioners headed by Jean-Claude Juncker.