Malta can use its strategic position to serve as an energy hub in the Mediterranean, Labour MEP Miriam Dalli told the European Parliament energy committee.

Dr Dalli told the committee that the EU should look at the Mediterranean as an alternative route from where it can harvest energy and that it should develop interconnectors in the Mediterranean in order to diversify its energy sources.

She pointed out that only a third of gas supplies used by the EU come from Member States, and at the current rate of consumption, European gas reserves will run out in around 20 years’ time.

“This situation, along with the current geopolitical developments going on around us, has serious implications on the security of the EU’s energy,” Dr Dalli said.

In response to Dr Dalli,  outgoing Energy Commissioner Gunther Oettinger said that the European Commission plans to diversify its methods of energy harvesting and that the Mediterranean has a central role to play in these plans.