The Opposition fully supports the GRTU’s call for a 30 per cent reduction in electricity rates to reflect the drop in oil prices, Nationalist Party leader Simon Busuttil said yesterday.
Speaking on Radio 101, Dr Busuttil pointed out that the price of oil had dropped to a third of what it was under the previous administration. He now expected to see a resultant drop in electricity, petrol and diesel prices.
The Chamber of Small and Medium Enterprises, or GRTU, was joined by the Chamber of Commerce in demanding further reductions in businesses’ energy bills. The organisations said that, for years, Malta had to shoulder hefty electricity prices due to the international price of oil.
But now that the price has fallen to $40 a barrel, combined with savings through the efficient BWSC operation and the interconnector, a corresponding reduction in energy bills was expected.
Turning to the scandal leading to the arraignment of the former treasurer of the Labour Party, Joe Sammut, Dr Busuttil reiterated his call for an independent, public inquiry into the 14,000 residence permits dished out to non-EU citizens last year.
It squandered so much money on Cafe Premier and Gaffarena, why not prioritise the police force?
If the government had nothing to hide, it would not shy away from ordering a public inquiry into how many visas and residence permits were issued irregularly. Mr Sammut did not operate alone but had the support of people in different institutions, he said, adding that a refusal to order a public inquiry was tantamount to institutionalised corruption.
Asked by his interviewer whether the arrest of five Eastern Europeans suspected of a string of robberies had quelled people’s concerns about the police, Dr Busuttil said the police force has been suffering from declining trust ever since 2013. It had seen no less than four police commissioners appointed during that time.
People should feel protected by the police but were instead they were questioning their motives. The problem, he hastened to add, was not the police themselves but one of political interference, as the Prime Minister was responsible for selecting the commissioners.
Thanking the mayors, he said the localities of Swieqi, Sliema, San Ġwann, St Julian’s and St Paul’s Bay remained sensitive localities plagued by theft and a general sense of lawlessness, including loud noise lasting into the night. “The police should do more and the government should increase the police’s resources. It squandered so much money on Café Premier and on Gaffarena, why not prioritise the police force?”
Reacting, the Labour Party said that before the election, Dr Busuttil had claimed water and electricity tariffs could not be reduced and that the idea was “Alice in Wonderland”. The government had a credible energy plan for families and businesses to benefit from cheaper prices of petrol, diesel and gas, it said.