In other European countries private oil companies make a profit on the sale of petrol while the government collects the tax on such sales.

Here in Malta, the government does not only collect the tax on the sale of petrol but it also makes a profit through the State-owned company Enemed. The government of Malta is acting like the most avid businessman.

At 56 cents a litre, the net price of petrol in Malta (net of duty and tax) was nine cents higher than the weighted average price of petrol within the EU 28.

The price of petrol in Malta was 13 cents higher than the net price of petrol in the United Kingdom, that is 23 per cent higher.

Why can’t Enemed procure its petrol supplies from the same sources from which the UK obtains its supplies? How much profit is Enemed making on the sale of petrol?

The situation in the sale of diesel is not much different. While the net price of diesel in Greece and Estonia is higher than in Malta, at 53 cents per litre, the net price of diesel in Malta is six cents higher than the EU 28 weighted average.

The net price of diesel in Malta is 11 cents higher than the price in Slovenia, or 21 per cent.

Everybody knows, with the exception apparently of the European Commission, that in Malta there is only one price for petrol and only one price for diesel. In which other EU Member State do we find such a situation?

How long is the government going to permit Enemed to abuse its dominant position in the local petroleum market? Where is Margrethe Vestager, the European Competition Commissioner?

Are Maltese consumers of petroleum products second-class EU citizens?

The European Commission was too quick to close the infringement procedure on Malta’s monopoly in the petroleum sector. In spite of the change in the legislation, the ad hoc monopoly is still there, and Article 37 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) is still being violated.