The Minister for Environment, Energy and Enterprise Miriam Dalli has promised that the government will continue to foster stability in energy prices, but stopped short of guaranteeing that there will be no price increases in 2023.

In comments to journalists, Dalli said the government had always been clear that it would offer energy price stability, and noted how countries which were not doing this were facing serious consequences, here citing Italy as an example where people are reporting energy bills five times higher than in the past.

She said that if energy prices are allowed to increase, referring to such a decision which the PN government had taken in 2013, then it would have a serious ripple effect on families, businesses, and whole industries.

“We will keep investing in people and seeing that investment continues because we believe that when you are keeping stability in energy prices you are giving an impetus to the country’s economy,” Dalli said when asked whether her ministry would be facing budget cuts, as the government tries to save some €200 million in spending.

Asked whether the subsidies will continue past the upcoming Budget, Dalli said that in comparing Malta to other countries, she sees a country where businesses and families are being given peace of mind in the energy sector.

“We are going to see that we will continue to follow the international situation but at the same time offers solutions to our families,” she added when pressed on whether she could guarantee that energy prices will remain the same in 2023.

She said that the government is shoulder new burdens so that the people don’t have to, and recalled that had the government listened to the PN and not built the LNG power station, people today would be paying 80c per unit to get electricity from the interconnector.

“We will continue to foster stability as we are now,” she concluded.

When asked about the Labour Party’s €700 million investment to create “a series of open, public spaces in every city and town,” she said that individual studies are ongoing to convert urban spaces into green spaces, but she could not offer a clear answer as to when these projects will take place.

However, she said that more information will be released on these projects in the coming months.

The Labour Party has pledged to invest €700 million to convert five large urban spaces into parks and gardens. This will include demolishing buildings and directing traffic to make space for these green areas.

In the case of St. Anne’s Street Floriana, the plan is to turn it into a garden and then reroute the traffic with the use of an underground tunnel. The idea to pedestrianize this street emerged after the mayor was attracted by the design drawn up by four architects.

The project also includes roofing the Santa Venera tunnels with a garden, converting the Hamrun milk factory in the Mile End area into a large garden, converting the largest car park in Gozo into an underground carpark which would make way for a football pitch and public garden on top and a car park in Senglea will be turned into a park with parking spaces underground.