It is Liquigas which wants to impose a gas monopoly and not gas distributors, the Chamber for Small and Medium Enterprises, GRTU said this afternoon.

It was replying to a statement by Liquigas yesterday evening, in which the company accused the GRTU of intensifying efforts "to hold Malta hostage to an unacceptable monopolistic practice in gas distribution".

It accused the GRTU of expecting to be able to impose on the government, gas suppliers and consumers, a situation where its member distributors had absolute control of distribution, irrespective of the fact that such practices were neither legal nor tenable under Maltese laws.

In its statement today, the GRTU said whatever Liquigas said, its strategy was to retain an effective monopoly or absolute dominance in the sector. And that was why it was fighting its competitor Easygas in every way possible.

The company was now also fighting distributors to steal the little profit they made in door to door gas distribution. Liquigas wanted to control this sector and was doing its utmost to eliminate distributors as it knew there was not enough space for competition in this sector.

The GRTU said that Malta had been obliged, under EU legislation, to liberalise the wholesale and not the retail market. Under EU legislation Malta had the right to ensure that, first and foremost, all families were served.

The distributors' agreement with the government, through Enemalta, was a social and commercial contract. Through it, the individual distributors bound themselves to distribute gas to all consumers, wherever they lived, at a controlled price.

It seemed that the government did not want to honour this social contract and it did not seem worried with the company's threats to impose its capital monopoly.

This agreement, which had never been revoked, should be honoured by each and every serious government and it was also binding on Liquigas, the chamber insisted.

It said that if Liquigas wanted to get rid of distributers it should be serious enough to negotiate with them.

Liquigas could not operate the licence it said it had in competition with the distributors because through the contract it inherited from Enemalta that licence belonged to the distributors, the GRTU insisted.

The solution, it said, was for the government and Liquigas to recognise their contractual obligations and shoulder their responsibilities towards distributors and the community.