'Under PN energy prices will be so low we will not need subsidies', Delia says

Energy prices under a PN government will be so low that subsidies will no longer be needed, shadow finance minister Adrian Delia said.  

“A subsidy is there to give to people who cannot otherwise afford something. Under the PN, the people will no longer have to beg for help because the price they have to pay is lower at source,” he said.

Delia said the party has proposals on alternative energy that will provide security at supply, meaning that “your bills will not only remain the same but get cheaper,” he said.  

Delia did not detail the party’s proposals.  

The shadow finance minister said the government has spent nearly a billion euros in energy subsidies over the years, quoting figures provided by the finance minister in parliament, which, Delia said, is not sustainable.

He said his opposite number in government, Clyde Caruana had made the same points.  

Delia said that under the current system, the government can maintain its subsidies only by taking on more debt.  

He was answering questions from the media when he made the arguments following a press conference about Labour's “broken promise”. 

He said the government has not really completed 82 per cent of its 2022 electoral manifesto, saying that figure is inflated.  

“If cutting a ribbon or releasing a document about what you want to do means you have implemented it, then you can somehow arrive at the figure the government is claiming”.  

Delia and energy shadow minister Mark Anthony Sammut listed a number of promises that they said the government had not implemented.  

Delia, a former health shadow minister, said a health hub in the north of Malta never came to fruition, and the Censu Moran centre in Paola is only partly operating.  

He also mentioned the unfulfilled promises about the Gozo, St Luke’s, and Karen Grech Hospitals that are at the centre of the Vitals/ Steward Scandal.

Sammut pointed to several proposals in the energy sector that were promised in the Labour Party’s 2022 manifesto.  

He said the PL promised that the second Sicily-Malta interconnector would be ready by 2025.  

He said the government also failed in their promise to increase the number of electric car charging points to 1,200.  

“Instead from 260 charging points the government has only increased the number of charging points to 408,” Sammut said.  

PN candidate Anabelle Cillia also spoke at the press event, saying the PN will offer concrete solutions to people’s problems.