As the country endures yet another day of high temperatures triggering power cuts, the Nationalist Party is calling for Energy Minister Miriam Dalli to take political responsibility and resign for the "national crisis" caused by numerous blackouts.

Following five consecutive days of power cuts, the country continues to endure another day of sweltering heat as a number of localities across the Maltese Islands are still left without electricity. 

During a press conference on Friday by PN MPs Mark Anthony Sammut and Ryan Callus, noted that back in June 2013, Dalli, who was the spokesperson for the Energy Ministry at the time, issued a statement saying ‘power blackouts will be a thing of the past’. 

“This promise was not kept and today the country continues to experience one blackout after another, as the Maltese and Gozitans must face the consequences of shortcomings that Robert Abela’s government has taken in recent years,” they said.

The PN accused the government of failing the energy sector and that Dalli should resign for the shortcomings of the last few days. 

The energy provider has blamed sustained heat for penetrating the road and impacting cables.

They also called out the government’s failure in infrastructure planning and the crisis of overpopulation.

“This is an unprecedented national crisis, which has resulted from incompetence, lack of planning and corruption in the energy sector.”

'A country in darkness cannot move forward' - Roberta Metsola

Roberta Metsola has also called out the government’s failure in long-term planning, especially for electricity and renewable energy.

“The government has failed,” the European Parliament president wrote on Facebook on Friday. 

“It failed in traffic management, in development and planning, electricity and infrastructure. It failed to find solutions and ensure that in 2023, people will not have to live without energy. It failed in harnessing solar energy and renewable solutions.”

Metsola has previously highlighted how Malta should be at the forefront when it comes to the environmental transition and how roofs should be covered with solar panels to provide clean energy. 

Metsola said that she has spoken to business owners who have lost profit due to the power cuts, parents who cannot leave their children in the heat and elderly who are left breathless in their dark homes.

She said there are others who are dependent on electricity due to their medication being stored in fridges and on electronic equipment that runs on electricity.

“Everyone in Malta and Gozo is feeling the consequences of the last ten year’s political decisions- everything from one day to the next, and without a long-term plan,” Metsola said. 

She said the government continues to sweep problems “under the carpet” ignores the people’s appeals and spends the taxpayer’s money on propaganda. 

“Instead of improving the quality of life and preparing our country for the next generation, their mind was only on the next election. A country in darkness cannot move forward.”

ADPD calls on protest to demand accountability for power cuts

Malta’s Green Party has also come out against the Labour government, accusing it of being more interested in projects that involve huge sums of money, where it is easier to hide corruption, rather than in local investments in the electricity distribution system.

“At the same time the government of supposed ‘experts’ and ‘star’ ministers went down the path of an economic policy based on reckless and unrestrained speculation and building development, all loaded on poor infrastructure,” the ADPD secretary general Ralph Cassar said. 

“Labour preaches the false idea of unlimited resources and waste, they even reward huge subsidies to those who use energy recklessly. All this while EneMalta was left to fail, and while incompetent Labour lap-dogs were rewarded with well-paid positions in the failed corporation.”

The party’s president, Sandra Gauci said the country is on “its’ knees’ due to the continuous power cuts, which have been a burden to many families and businesses. 

“This situation is intolerable, we at ADPD are calling a protest to demand accountability for the current disastrous situation,” she said. 

The protest is to take place next week, with details to be announced later.