Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1325383
5 maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 6 JANUARY 2021 NEWS LAURA CALLEJA MALTA is retaining its gas pipeline on the European Commission's projects of common interest (PCI) list, despite failing to obtain the funds for the €400 million project in the last disbursement of Con- necting Europe Facility cash. Energy minister Miriam Dalli said the pipeline remains on the PCI list but that it will advance the project as a "hy- drogen-ready" pipeline, reflecting the change in appetite inside the EC to do away with fossil fuels like LNG. Malta will have to retain the LNG tank- er for longer than it expected now that it has failed to obtain financing for the pipeline. Dalli was unable to give a concrete commitment on the permanence of the tanker in Marsaxlokk. "The promise was that we keep the tanker only until we are connected to a pipeline. We need to en- sure this connection for our security of supply." Dalli said Malta will still insisted on a mix of clean energy sources, that will in- clude hydrogen, renewable energy, and the interconnector with Sicily. She said Malta will still attempt tap into EU financing for the project, and if need be, other forms of local financing. "If we go for a hydrogen-ready pipeline, it would be in line with our vision to be- come carbon-neutral by 2050," she said. The European Commission ignored the island's final bid in the last round of CEF funds. In 2019, Malta's attempt to get fi- nance for the €400 million pipeline was punished by the EC's de-prioritisation of gas projects to move fast on climate change targets. Malta wants to procure natural gas from the European mainland directly because its supply of gas to the Delimara power station is procured by a floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) vessel. Now that it has lost out on the last disbursement of the €23 billion CEF founds, Malta will have to change tack on its energy plans be- cause the next PCI list in 2021 – the fifth – will be more stringent on gas projects. This means it will have to go for a hy- drogen-ready system, so the proposed pipeline will have to be able to transport hydrogen. Additionally, Malta's bid was over- shadowed by a European Ombudsman's inquiry on the gas projects that were in- cluded in the 2019 list of PCIs (projects of common interest) – Malta's included. The Ombudsman last month agreed, saying it had been "regrettable" that the EC did not attempt to improve the available data. Now under a proposed reform, the EC has ruled out unabated gas projects from applying for funding completely. The EC has also declared that Europe no longer had such pressing gas supply security issues, meaning gas projects were not deemed as strategic as in the past. "By the early 2020s, when the gas projects of common interest currently under construction will be in operation, Europe should achieve a well-intercon- nected and shock-resilient gas grid and all member states will have access to at least three gas sources," the EC said. This means the CEF billions will only be spent on renewable and low carbon gases, such as smart gas grids, and green gases, typically biogas and biomethane, but also hydrogen. Malta's natural gas pipeline between Italy and Malta was expected to be op- erational by 2024. It has been a high pri- ority in the ongoing effort to link Malta to Europe's energy network, and will end Malta's "gas isolation". Malta's electrical network was linked to Europe's via Sicily in 2015, but remain- ing on the periphery from the EU's nat- ural gas networks affected the security of Malta's energy supply. Malta to push ahead on hydrogen-ready pipeline after losing out on EU funds Enterprise minister Miriam Dalli NICOLE MEILAK THE parliamentary committee on stand- ards in public life has adopted the conclu- sions of a Standards Commissioner deci- sion, that investigated the appointment of Konrad Mizzi as a consultant within the MTA. As subject of the investigation, former Prime Minister Joseph Muscat could possi- bly be given the right to make submissions to the committee as stipulated in the Stand- ards in Public Life Act if the committee de- cides to impose sanctions on him. Muscat resigned as MP in October 2020. The hour-long committee meeting saw MPs discussing legal technicalities in the Standards in Public Life Act and the way forward on the commissioner's report. Given that Muscat had resigned from parliament prior to the publication of the report, Labour MPs Edward Zammit Lewis and Byron Camilleri argued that the com- mittee can only impose sanctions on sitting MPs. PN MP Karol Aquilina argued otherwise, insisting that the Standards Act illustrates a set of sanctions to be imposed on MPs, as well as separate sanctions when there has been a breach in the Code of Ethics. The Standards Commissioner had con- cluded in his report that Konrad Mizzi's ap- pointment as a consultant in the MTA was an abuse of power on Joseph Muscat's side. As Prime Minister, and in turn minister responsible for the MTA, Joseph Muscat had instructed for the Malta Tourism Au- thority to award Konrad Mizzi an €80,000 consultancy within the authority. The con- sultancy was repealed almost immediately in the wake of the public outrage that en- gulfed the nation when Tumas magnate Yorgen Fenech was arrested in December 2019. Mizzi, one of the protagonists in the Panama Papers, was associated with Mus- cat's chief of staff Keith Schembri, who re- signed following Fenech's arrest. Standards MPs divided over whether to summon Muscat over MTA job Joseph Muscat