‘Will You Call Von Der Leyen Corrupt Now?’ Joseph Muscat Asks As EU Strikes Gas Deal With Azerbaijan
After the European Union struck a gas deal with Azerbaijan, former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat hit out at people who had criticised him for his dealings with the South Caucuses nation.
“How much they insulted us when we started cooperating with Azerbaijan before the other European countries did,” Muscat said as he quoted European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s description of Azerbaijan as a “reliable partner” reduce its dependency on Russian gas.
Muscat recounted advice that former PL MP Joe Debono Grech, who was a Council of Europe rapporteur for monitoring Azerbaijan, had given him about the nation.
“I remember when Joe Debono Grech mentioned this country to me for the first time and told me that a day will come when everyone will be lining up in a queue in front of them,” Muscat said.
“He told me that [former Maltese Prime Minister Dom] Mintoff was insulted for opening Malta’s doors to China but he was then proven right. He told me that I should do the same with Azerbaijan and the same will happen.”
Under Muscat’s administration, the Electrogas consortium – which includes Azerbaijan’s state oil company Socar – was chosen to develop and operate a new LNG power station in Delimara.
This deal has long faced allegations of corruption but Muscat said it was crucial for Malta to reduce its electricity bills, which he said were “impoverishing” the working class, “destroying” the middle class and causing business to “stagnate”.
“We also managed to maintain electricity and fuel prices stable for years without subsidising them,” he said.
“Who knows whether they will say Von Der Leyen is corrupt or whether they will falsify signatures to invent a story that her husband owns a company and that she took money from Azerbaijan?” Muscat questioned in a reference to the Egrant story.
Yesterday, EC President Ursula von der Leyen signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Azeri President Ilham Aliyev on a strategic partnership in the field of energy.
This deal will double the capacity of the Southern Gas Corridor – linking Azerbiajan to Europe to deliver at least 20 billion cubic metres of natural gas to the EU annually by 2027.
Although the Azeri deal is intended to help phase out the EU’s reliance on Russian gas for its energy needs, it will still amount to a fraction of the gas the bloc imports from Russia, which is estimated at 155bcm a year.
The deal was signed despite European Parliament President Roberta Metsola’s warning on the EU not to rely on “autocratic regimes” for its energy supply.
“If you ask me, for the European Parliament, I don’t want to go from one unreliable partner to another and that must be our goal,” Metsola told Lovin Malta in an interview last May when asked whether she views Azerbaijan as a potential alternative source of gas to Russia.
Cover photo: Left: Then Prime Minister Joseph Muscat with Azeri President Ilham Aliyev in 2014, Right: European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen with Aliyev on Monday
Do you agree with the EU’s new deal with Azerbaijan?
READ NEXT: Forty Cigarette Disposal Bins Installed Around Malta And Gozo's Sandy Beaches
