In less than four months, Malta's 10-year contract for the supply of gas used to run the power station will come to an end, and the Government appears to have only this week remembered that it still has no plan to ensure gas supply for the operation of the power station beyond August, the Nationalist Party said Thursday.

Shadow Minister for Energy Mark Anthony Sammut, Shadow Minister for the Environment Rebekah Borg, and Shadow Minister for Employment Ivan Castillo stated that energy production in our country after August will depend on a new gas supply agreement, as the arrangement in place over the past 10 years will expire on 13 August. To date, the Government has not said what new agreement has been secured to guarantee gas supply so that families and businesses in Malta and Gozo can be assured of having electricity in their homes and establishments.

It appears that, following the questions raised on Sunday by the Leader of Partit Nazzjonalista, Robert Abela and Minister Miriam Dalli hurriedly met with technical officials at the power station and called an urgent meeting for tomorrow with the social partners represented on the MCESD, who are understandably concerned about this situation. Given that the Government knew that the agreement between Electrogas and SOCAR would come to an end in August this year, it should have begun negotiations for a new supply agreement in 2024 or at the very least last year.

However, for some reason, the Government appears not to have negotiated, and it now finds itself in a state of panic, aware that its incompetence could lead the country into an energy crisis. This same incompetence may also result in Malta having to pay significantly higher prices for gas - particularly in light of the international situation and the war in the Middle East - simply because the Government has found itself in an emergency of its own making due to its failure to plan ahead.

Last March, the Minister responsible for energy, Miriam Dalli, had reassured journalists who questioned her on this issue by stating that negotiations were underway. The Partit Nazzjonalista asks Miriam Dalli whether it is true that the Government, through Enemalta, will now be issuing a tender for the supply of gas. Because if the Government intends to issue a call for tenders, this would mean either that no negotiations were in fact taking place - therefore the Minister was misleading - or that over the past five years the Government has failed to negotiate a new agreement for the country.

Irrespective of whether negotiations took place or not, or whether a tender is yet to be issued, the Shadow Ministers said that the Government is already late, as action should have been taken a long time ago.

The PN representatives stated that the public has a right to know what supply will be in place once the current agreement expires, or whether the tanker will remain empty next to the power station during the summer, and whether the country will once again find itself resorting to candles and hand-held fans.

As they meet with the social partners to give an account of the situation, Robert Abela and Miriam Dalli must also provide a transparent explanation to the public of what is happening and ensure that electricity supply will remain stable even after 13 August.

The fact that, to date, the country's electricity supply is still not guaranteed is a clear certificate of a Government more focused on propaganda than on planning. It confirms once again that the Government has resorted to crisis management, even in a matter as crucial to people and the economy as energy.

A Government that truly places the national interest first is one that remains focused on the interests of the country and its people-not on its own personal interests, the PN said.

In reply, the Labour Party said that on the eve of a meeting convened by the Prime Minister with the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development (MCESD) to explain Malta's resilience plan for the energy sector, the Nationalist Party held a press conference in an attempt to scare people about the energy supply.

To fill the void it left by the absence of its own energy policy, the Nationalist Party once again chose partisanship over responsibility and seriousness. However, the Maltese people trust that, unlike the Opposition, the Government guarantees stability in this sector, the PL said.

This was evident today when the Opposition referred to a contract that, had it been up to the PN, would never have existed, and to a power station it had previously argued was unnecessary.

As became clear during a visit by the Prime Minister and the Minister for Energy to Enemalta on Tuesday, the Government has a clear and robust plan for the energy sector, the PL said.