The government can take measures that will eventually soften the impact of the fuel surcharge on Maltese and Gozitan families, Labour Deputy leader for Parliamentary Affairs, Dr Charles Mangion said yesterday.

Speaking at a press conference, Dr Mangion said that in the past eight years, a gallon of leaded petrol went up by 90c or 62 per cent, a gallon of unleaded petrol went up by 76 per cent or 52 per cent whilst a gallon of diesel increased by Lm 1.18 or 151 per cent. He said that the fuel surcharge was established at 55 per cent, went down to 47 per cent, was up again to 67 per cent and was now down to 64 per cent.

All these changes are leading to economic instability and negative social impact, Dr Mangion added. He said that the Fuel Procurement Advisory Committee also made reference to the price of diesel in its report and said that this could be stabilized by Enemalta.

Dr Mangion called on the government to carry out an analysis and audit on the purchasing of fuel by Enemalta as this could have a significant effect on the surcharge.

Labour Infrastructural Services spokesperson Joe Mizzi said that although the rising price of oil was a problem, the biggest problem was that the government had no plan to tackle the energy issue seriously.