Brussels has rejected Labour MEP Louis Grech’s official request to publish all correspondence between the European Commission and Malta over the probe into the tender adjudication for the extension of the Delimara power station.
The government had already refused a similar call by Opposition leader Joseph Muscat, made after The Sunday Times last July revealed that the Commission had started infringement procedures against Malta on the controversial BWSC tender.
Internal Market Commissioner Michel Barnier informed Mr Grech that Malta had responded “in a timely” manner to the Commission’s request for information. It added that, “after careful analysis of facts and arguments submitted by the Maltese authorities, the Commission will consider what further steps need to be taken in this matter”.
An EU official yesterday told The Times that Labour’s request to publish the exchange of letters between the government and the Commission could not be accepted as “this is considered to be sensitive and confidential information”.
He said: “We would be doing an injustice with Malta if we were to publish these documents as we will be weakening Malta’s position in any possible future court litigation over this issue.
“The Commission has never published this type of correspondence with member states and has no intention of doing so,” the official said.
Meanwhile, Mr Barnier confirmed in his reply to Mr Grech’s parliamentary question that the Commission had some problems with the procedure used by Maltese authorities in awarding the €200 million tender to BWSC as it suspected the island may have infringed EU procurement rules.
However, according to Mr Barnier no decision has been made on whether Brussels will pass on to the second stage of infringement procedures over this issue.
“We are still analysing the replies sent by Malta and gathering all the necessary information,” Mr Barnier said.
Responding to Mr Grech’s question on why the Commission had not started procedures against Malta earlier, Mr Barnier said that, as the guardian of the Treaty, the Commission enjoyed discretion as to whether and when to start an infringement procedure against a member state.
“In this particular case, the Commission had to collect all the relevant information, including the results of an inquiry launched by the Maltese National Audit Office with regard to the tender procedure, which was concluded in April 2010,” Mr Barnier said.
The power station tender has been shrouded in controversy since its inception with various allegations of corruption and accusations that Malta did not choose the right technology.
The Commission, however, is not investigating the environmental aspect of the tender, such as which fuel (gas, diesel or fuel oil) is to fire the new plant as that has been left up to the Maltese government to decide as long as it observes EU rules.
The Commission’s trouble is with the procurement rules used by Enemalta, particularly in relation to the conditions set down in the original tender document.