The counter motion presented by the Opposition requesting an amendment to the government’s original motion tied to the energy agreement debate has been rejected.
The amendments, read out by PN deputy leader Mario de Marco, included excerpts which read that the Opposition could not debate the energy agreement if it’s left in the dark on pertinent details. It also argued that Prime Minister Joseph Muscat had pledged he would resign if the new power station deadline is not met but he did not. 28 MPs voted in favour of the motion while 33 against. The motion presented by the government on the other hand went through with 28 voting against and 33 in favour.
Earlier
As the debate on the Shanghai Electric agreement continued this evening in parliament, Leader of the Opposition Simon Busuttil said that it is unacceptable that the debate on the energy sector is being held without all the relevant documents having been tabled.
The government, he said, has repeatedly refused to expose all agreements signed. "Choosing not to publish all the relevant documents only goes to show that there is something to hide. This is hypocritical of the government," Dr Busuttil said.
The Opposition, he said, is only participating in the debate to stress the lack of transparency of the government. "We will keep on insisting that all documents are made public," Dr Busuttil said. "It is impossible that an agreement worth so much is only 15 pages long - the selective pages are the ones which have been tabled." Busuttil said that the documents presented are superficial and not enough.
He reminded that according to pre-electoral pledges, the new power station would have been ready in two months' time, and if not, Dr Muscat would have resigned. He questioned why Dr Muscat chose to say the project was on track, when it clearly wasn't. The government, he said, is going against what it promised and signing agreements which were not ever mentioned.
In January of 2013, Dr Muscat said that the BWSC plant will remain in Enemalta's hands, however it transpires that now this is not the case. Does it make sense to sell a new, efficient power station and they buy electricity from it? Dr Busuttil asked.
The Labour Party's electoral manifesto clearly stated that the corporation will not be privatised and that the power station is a cancer factory - these were all lies, Dr Busuttil said.
The Leader of the Opposition questioned why the General Workers' Union is not speaking up about this agreement, and why it is not questioning the future of the employees. "What interest does the GWU have?" He reminded the Labour Party that it had promised that the workers' take-home pay would not be jeopardised.
Turning to fuel prices, Dr Busuttil said oil prices had dropped by more than 50 per cent but in Malta, consumers, in contrast to motorists in other European countries, were paying practically the same prices as before. The public, he said, is ending up paying for the government’s incompetence in the energy sector. He reminded that according to calculations, the government is robbing one €14 a week if you purchase €40 petrol, and €13 a week if you purchase €30 of diesel.
The people in Malta had ended up paying more in fuel than the savings they were supposed to have made on electricity, Dr Busuttil said.
Shadow Minister highlights contrast between agreements tabled in parliament
Shadow Minister for Citizen’s Rights, Justice and Democracy Jason Azzopardi questioned why the power purchase agreement has not been tabled, which lays down the manner in which purchases will be made, share transfer agreements, warrants and other important details.
It is disappointing to see such a significant sector being left in the hands of other states, Dr Azzopardi said.
He reminded listeners that prior to the election, the Labour Party promised transparency and honesty, as well as new style of politics, however, this was not the case.
In the past days, Dr Muscat told the press that this is the most honest government in history. Yet, he said that the Nationalist Administration never tabled the Arriva and BWSC contracts.
Dr Azzopardi argued that the Arriva Contracts were tabled in October 2012 – a publication of over 100 pages. This, in contrast to the memorandum of understanding which is 15 pages long, and which was tabled by the government. In May of 2010 – 11 volumes of the BWSC were tabled in parliament by the Nationalist Party, a total of over 2,000 pages.
“The Prime Minister lies through his teeth as if nothing ever happened,” Dr Azzopardi said.
‘A government that stinks’ - PN MP Ryan Callus
PN MP Ryan Callus said that the strong energy sector scenario can easily change when Dr Muscat introduces new players – the Chinese.
While the liberalisation of markets could be a positive move, as was done during previous legislatures by PN governments – this might not apply to all sectors, the energy sector being no exception. This is due to the fact that it is a basic need for the economy, Mr Callus said.
It would be great if the government established a portal which displays the amount of energy which would be distributed to our country.
He said that the PN has launched a portal – www.dieselupetrol.com - where people can see how much they are being robbed of by the government in fuel prices. He referred to media reports that MITA – the government IT arm - blocked the site for public workers.
Mr Callus referred to the prime minister as a ‘teacher’ who tries shutting up his students and tells them to do as they are told. He said that the same thing is taking place in the country’s highest institution – parliament – today. He said that once the Opposition won’t be giving in to the ‘teacher’, since “we are not parrots”, it is challenging the prime minister to publish all the relevant documents, including the Electrogas contract.
“If the government will continue to be hard-headed and fails to publish all the documents, then there are no other words to describe the situation than stating that something stinks,” he said.
PN MP Marthese Portelli says documents tabled lack important details
PN MP Marthese Portelli said that the Prime Minister was meant to inaugurate the new power station in two months’ time but this won’t be happening and the worst thing of all is that the project has not even started.
She said that normally, contracts tabled in parliament related to such agreements have thousands of pages and not just 15 pages.
She highlighted that the contract tabled lacks important details and clarifications. As a result, this will only lead to misinterpretations. Dr Portelli said that the contract defines who the directors are but says nothing on their voting rights, terms referred to as anonymous consent, qualified majority, and simple majority.
Dr Portelli also said that clause 1.3 of the contract clearly states that the contract is just a ‘skeleton’ and has other contracts. She also said that it also states that if there is a discrepancy in this contract, it is declared null and void and the other contracts are the ones which are considered.
She said that Minister Joe Mizzi told The Malta Independent today, when asked if he would table the contract related to the new bus service soon, that he would do so at the right time. She said Mr Mizzi said this despite having said that he would do so after the parliamentary recess. Parliament reconvened on 12 January.
PN deputy leader de Marco says sale of shares nowhere to be found
Mario de Marco said that today we are discussing a motion presented by the government to debate the energy agreement. He said that the government wanted to debate the agreement without having tabled all the relevant documents.
Dr de Marco likened the documents tabled in parliament by the government to a trailer of a film. How can one be asked to watch a trailer of a film without watching the whole film to see whether it was worth watching, he asked.
He said that the PL, prior to the election, used the issue of the BWSC to try win votes. He said the PL had pledged that it would use the interconnector to generate electricity using an energy mix.
On the Shanghai Electric Power agreement, he said he could not understand why the government wanted to keep secret certain details. He said he understood that certain details were commercially sensitive however did say that it cannot be that each clause of the agreement is commercially sensitive either. He said that Shanghai Electric would subscribe to 33 per cent of the Enemalta shares however it does not state anywhere if the shares were sold and if they were, why were not these shares registered with the MFSA – the financial services regulatory body?
He said that if the transaction went through there should be a subscription agreement registered on the MFSA website. But this is nowhere to be found, he added. He asked the government how many agreements were signed with Shanghai Electric and to say why it is not in the national interest that they are published.