For the last three months diesel vehicle owners in Malta have been paying more than the average European price to fill their tank, according to a fuel price analysis carried out by this newspaper.

The exercise was based on the weekly oil bulletin data issued by the European Commission.

While in the rest of Europe fuel prices fluctuate on a weekly basis according to the changes in the international markets, Malta is the only State where prices are locked for months in line with government’s ‘fuel stability’ policy.

Introduced in October 2013, the controversial policy was frequently in the line of fire especially during those periods when local prices were significantly above the EU average. This has been especially the case for diesel, where the situation only started to improve from October last year when the price in Malta finally dropped below the EU average after a long stretch.

Despite an upward revision of 4c announced at the start of this year, the situation remained in positive territory but only up to the end of spring.

Since June 12, roughly a week after the general election, average EU prices started going down while in Malta diesel remained at €1.18 per litre, which at some point was 2c higher than the European average.

Though at the start of August the gap started narrowing once again, the latest data shows that this trend was temporary as from this week the gap started widening once again.

The issue of fuel prices was also at the heart of a Nationalist Party manifesto proposal for the June 3 election. The PN had pledged an immediate 5c cut for both petrol and diesel, and in the long-term to keep prices below the EU average.

Meanwhile, it is not known when the government will announce the next revision in fuel prices.