Now that we have started thinking the unthinkable, with the price of fuel being what it is, many have been asking the $64,000 dollar question (regardless of what the value of the dollar might be!) as to whether the hike in fuel prices has impacted or not on our driving habits.

While in America people are virtually up in arms and thinking hard of dumping their SUVs just because petrol has touched the $4 dollar mark, in Europe driving remains a hard habit to break even with gas at $10 a gallon.

But that is a generalisation and nothing more.

A Rome based correspondent of the International Herald Tribune recently echoed the sentiments of a Roman taxi driver I met in July when she quoted transportation experts in what she termed as ‘this laboratory of sky-high fuel prices’ that ‘many Europeans, out of necessity, habit or love, have proved surprisingly willing to bear the extra cost of driving.’ The well mannered taxi driver I met told me that although everyone is feeling the pinch in Italy they would rather do without a plate of pasta so long as they can keep on driving even if (hypothetically) prices reach e50 a litre!

But in fact fuel prices have persuaded more than a handful of people to drive less. Right across Europe. And on both sides of the Atlantic.

This has been reflected in the increased traffic on the Eurostar links as well as in the dip in gas and car purchases in both Italy and the UK. As well as in the reduction of vehicles on the road. In Italy alone sales of a particular popular up market Italian brand have dropped by 27 per cent.

The net losers have definitely been the gas guzzling sport utility vehicles. The so called SUVs. Because everyone is now afraid of touching one with a barge pole!

Whether all this will be enough to impact on what we need to do to meet our emissions control targets is something else. My calculated guess is a definite NO. It has more to do with the remaining money in our pockets rather than eco-friendliness.

Which brings us to the other argument – as to whether one should opt for a fuel and carbon efficient car or not.

The general trend is that European cars have always been far more efficient than those sold in the USA even before people started spending sleepless nights thinking hard about CO2 emissions, of all things!

What is a given is that the car industry is heavily improving the fuel efficiency of conventional cars as well as in designing hybrids powered by alternative fuels like electricity and hydrogen.

When I personally opted for a hybrid many thought I was trying to be trendy or else to do so as part of my image building as main spokesperson for the environment, sustainable development and climate change.

That is far from the truth. I had been toying with the idea of changing my car for some time. The type of saloon I was after was no longer on the market. So partly by design and even more so by default I ended up opting for a hybrid – something which I had on order weeks before Joseph Muscat formally offered me the shadowing post that I have.

What bugs me is that many people think a hybrid is an elitist car. On the contrary, although it does not come cheap, it costs far less than anyone would have imagined. And all those who might be frightened about the prospect of having to eventually replace the somewhat pricy rear pack of mega batteries that make the hybrid concept happen, must factor in two things – that they invariably come with an eight year guarantee and that by the time one gets round to replacing them I am sure that the market will be more than flooded with mass produced hybrids. Which will definitely lead to a reduction in the cost of such batteries.

In Rome hybrids are there for the picking, so much so that it is quite easy to find yourself diving into a hybrid taxi without knowing it, whether you happen to be at EUR, Stazione Termini or Piazza del Popolo.

When London initially introduced its considerable ‘congestion charge’ for conventional vehicles driving into the city centre, hybrids and electric cars were exempt. I am given to understand that presently the London area has by far the greatest proportion of these alternative fuel vehicles in the country.

The only snag about hybrids is that they have been rated as the most dangerous vehicles on the road by associations of the blind and the visually impaired; particularly those who rely on their hearing to make up for their optical deficiencies.

The main reason being that when driving slowly in a hybrid in a traffic congested area in the heart of the city while consoling yourself that you will not be consuming any fuel because you will be running on batteries, you run the risk of easily running somebody down. Because they will literally not hear you closing in on them!

The neighbour next door

Somebody once commented that countries nearby are like neighbours next door. You do not choose them. You just find them there. Which brings me to Libya. Over past years Labour governments had built solid results with this country which had often translated themselves in tangible deliverables ranging from massive investments into the Maltese economy and a sizeable chunk of newly created jobs as well as jobs for the Maltese in Libya.

The PN governments and party were always reluctant partners with the Libyans. That is confirmed by the fact that the first time they reached out to them ‘seriously’ was when they chose to go against the national interest, by timing an official visit to Tripoli when we were engaged in a diplomatic row over the gunboats issue on the median line spat. Were it not for one particular Nationalist Minister in the present government, the PN has hardly any influential interlocutors at all with the Libyan authorities. This is evidenced by the inconclusive visit of the President of the Republic where more platitudes were exchanged, and the fact that in spite of his genuine efforts, the former Minister of Foreign Affairs’ 25 odd hop overs or so bore hardly any tangible results.

It is true that we do not have the same clout as Berlusconi and the American government when it comes to beefing up relations with this country through win-win solutions, but apart from risking being effectively marginalised by the new momentum of the Italo-Libyan accord, we have so little to show in recent years even if this accord never materialised. Let us hope things will make a change for the better.

I would like to take this opportunity to bid farewell to the outgoing Libyan Ambassador, Dr Saad Elshelmani who was always the exemplary diplomat, loyal to his country’s official position but extremely polite, courteous and understanding. I had long formed a very good impression of him. But I only reinforced it further when I once saw how highly regarded he was down at Wilton Park where the British Foreign Office organises a series of regular informal brain storming sessions. Best wishes to him and his family.

e-mail: [email protected]

Leo Brincat is the Main Opposition Spokesperson for the Environment, Sustainable Development and Climate Change.