Alfred A. Farrugia
The Malta Automobile Club welcomes the reduction of 3 cents in the price of unleaded petrol (€1.35 per litre) and diesel (€1.28 per litre) in Malta with effect from 2nd March.
As a result of such reductions, there are now 16 EU countries where the price of petrol is less than Malta. These are Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain.
In the case of diesel, there are 21 EU countries where the price is less than Malta. These are the same list of countries as above, together with Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, and Portugal.
It is evident that the reduction of 3 cents could have been effected as from the beginning of February, when the state owned company Enemed received its first consignment following the tender issued on 17th December 2014. But the government preferred to keep these 3 cents to itself as an additional profit with the excuse of the so-called stability in fuel prices!
There is no doubt that the majority of Maltese consumers of petrol and diesel, and the industrial sector, would have preferred to enjoy the reduction of the additional 3 cents since the beginning of February, rather than the so-called stability.
The press release by the Government's Department of Information clearly shows that it is the government through the Ministry for Energy that is fixing the prices of petrol and diesel in Malta, when talking about the second step in its policy of reductions, and not the market or the tenders received by Enemed Company Ltd.
When is the government going to allow other players to compete against Enemed on a level playing field, and not from a dominant position in the petroleum market?