On 27 January 2015, Mario Camilleri, the owner of M&N Camilleri filling station in Rabat, Malta, decided to sell his diesel for €1.33 per litre, which is €0.02 less than the current price.
But Mr Camilleri did not sell a single litre of diesel at the reduced price because he was pressured by the Falzon Group, the importers of San Lucian diesel, not to do so.
Sixty weeks have passed since then, but the Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority (MCCAA) is still asleep, and has failed to provide a remedy to Maltese consumers as it is legally obliged to do.
There is no doubt that, had Mr Camilleri been allowed to sell his diesel for two cents less, all the other fuel stations that bought diesel from the Falzon Group would have done the same, otherwise they would not have sold their supplies.
In such circumstances, all the remaining fuel stations would have done the same as well, including those who sold diesel imported by Enemed Co. Ltd – the state-owned company – because they too would have found it difficult to sell their supplies.
In other words, the Maltese users of diesel fuel in Malta would have saved more than €2 million in the course of the last 60 weeks, judging by the amount of diesel imported by Enemed alone.
When the Malta Automobile Club wrote to the European Commission to complain about the absence of competition in the local fuel market, the Commission referred the Club to the Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority (MCCAA).
What the European Commission apparently does not know is that the MCCAA is led by long-serving loyal civil “servants” whose main objective is to safeguard the interests of their “master” – the government – and not the interests of consumers.
Sixty weeks is more than enough time for the MCCAA to offer a remedy to the local users of diesel regarding the non-competitive nature of the local fuel market.
Two months ago, the MCCAA is reported to have initiated “infringement proceedings” concerning the complaint made a year before that a cartel was operating in the sale of fuel at the pumps. What exactly is the Authority’s Director-General waiting for with regard to reaching a decision on this matter? Are 60 weeks not long enough to reach a decision about what is completely obvious to all concerned?
If the MCCAA wishes to save its face, it might be better to reach a conclusion on this matter before the petition submitted by the Malta Automobile Club is discussed by the European Parliament!
This week’s reduction of four cents in the price of petrol and six cents in the price of diesel is not going to change the uncompetitive nature of the local fuel market. In spite of the reductions, the prices of petrol and diesel in Malta are still above the European Union 28 weighted average!
Given that the government has collected more than €35.6 million in duties and taxes from the sale of petrol and diesel imported by Enemed alone in the past three months, the reductions in the price of petrol and diesel could have been more substantial!