Watch: Joseph Muscat Warns Ukraine Invasion Could Impact Electricity Bills As Robert Abela Says Crisis ‘So Far Away’
Former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat warned that the Russian invasion of Ukraine could impact Malta’s energy sector and force electricity bills to shoot up.
“What is happening to the people of Ukraine can never be justified and we must give them our full solidarity,” Muscat told a crowd in Marsa at the campaign launch of PL candidate Keith Azzopardi Tanti.
“You can come up with all the excuses you want but you can’t justify what’s happening to the people of Ukraine. One can say that it’s so far away and it doesn’t matter to us, but it does matter. It matters because they’re people like us but also because it will impact us.”
“To ensure this doesn’t impact us on issues like bills and all other things businesses and households must face, we need a wise government in the months and years to come, a government that knows how to draft programmes and plan ahead.”
View this post on Instagram
Muscat’s intervention came a day after his successor Robert Abela said the people of Malta should be grateful to live “in such a beautiful country which is so far away from the crisis and where you have peace, peace of mind and serenity”.
While the former Prime Minister said he believes the PL “team” has what it takes to lead Malta through the storm and took a dig at the PN over the recent departure of four MPs, he didn’t mention Abela by name once during his ten-minute speech.
Muscat hailed the hedging agreement for LNG which his government had entered into back in 2015 and which is currently shielding the country from huge global surges in gas prices.
“Switch on the TV and turn to Rai, BBC or Sky and you can see them constantly warning that electricity bills will increase,” he said. “However, Malta managed to lower electricity bills and they have remained cheap.”
“They [sic] made such a fuss that the government is losing money from the hedging deal up until a few months ago, and they had a point if you want to be short-sighted. However, hedging is like motor insurance – you think you’re wasting money when you don’t crash your car but get into one accident and you realise its worth.”
Prime Minister Robert Abela
”They told us that we lost €10 million in the first six months of the hedging deal and it’s true but you need to keep counting the bill till the very end. It seems that no one wanted to count the bill but I did, and I found out that the hedging deal saved the people €133 million last year alone.”
“If it wasn’t for this decision, electricity bills would have increased by 56%.”
This hedging deal, which was spearheaded by former Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi, is set to expire next month, prompting the government to put aside millions of public funds to cushion the blow and prevent it from having to increase electricity bills.
Muscat has kept a relatively low profile since resigning in disgrace in 2019 but has upped the tempo since his home was searched by police in connection with an inquiry into the Vitals Global Healthcare deal.
He has appeared at a number of events throughout this election campaign to endorse candidates such as Azzopardi Tanti, Glenn Bedingfield, Deo Debattista and Chris Agius.
However, he hasn’t appeared at an event in which Abela was present. Questioned by Lovin Malta this week whether Muscat will have any part to play in the current election campaign, Abela took a cautious stance, stating that “unlike the Opposition Leader, I don’t discard those who disagree with me”.
Why do you think Muscat is on the campaign trail?
READ NEXT: Watch: Joseph Muscat Gets Hero’s Welcome At PL Candidate’s Campaign Launch
