Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1432934
Miriam Dalli Evarist Bartolo Miriam Dalli is minister for energy, enterprise and sustainable development Evarist Bartolo is Minister of Foreign Affairs 12 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 28 NOVEMBER 2021 OPINION JUST a few weeks ago, the Gov- ernment presented its Budget for next year. A budget built on measures and policies that seek to ensure a better future for our children. Sustainability, which is one of the core functions of the Ministry I lead, is being giv- en a boost across all portfolios as we pave the way for a decar- bonised Malta by 2050. It takes a coordinated effort to reach the targets we have set upon ourselves and to meet the European Commission's Green Deal ambition. The Ministry for Energy, Enterprise and Sus- tainable Development alone has been voted a €270 million package, covering 40 measures in these sectors. These funds seek to improve people's lives, to support businesses and to provide peace of mind. Malta is not excluded from the rest of the world and what is happening in Europe and across other continents impacts us as well. During my mandate at the European Parliament I could see and feel the different pres- sures that different countries face, which made me push more the argument that one-size pol- icies intended to fit all do not work. More so, for an island state like Malta where we do not have any natural resources, and for the majority of cases, we depend on imports. This leads me to the situation of spiralling energy prices the world has been experiencing over the past few months. This is happening at a very sensitive time, as the world economy is trying to recover from the glob- al COVID-19 pandemic. This supply-demand conundrum was further exacerbated by Eu- ropean gas reserves reaching a record low, whilst the demand for LNG in Asian markets has spiked. This resulted in a situa- tion where prices in Europe are rapidly rising too. Hence why retaining stable energy prices in Malta is our utmost priority. As our fam- ilies are emerging from the pandemic, as our economy is recovering, transferring this burden onto our families and businesses is a no go for us. It would have dealt a major blow. Something this Government is not prepared to do. Our energy mix gives us more peace of mind in terms of sup- ply. Our policy as a Labour government is to retain price stability and seek solutions to improve on our present sys- tems. We are working hard to achieve this whilst residents in Belgium have experienced a 21% increase in electricity prices; Romanians face a 48% increase and in Italy, electricity prices will rise by 30%, for ex- ample. We managed to retain amongst the lowest bills in the European Union – and the cheapest in the EuroZone. We are doing this because we are sensitive to the realities of our families and businesses and we deliver on what we pledge. My vision for the energy sector is a forward-looking one. This is a very important sector that needs continuous investment. We will not abandon this sec- tor as was the case under the Nationalist administrations. In- deed, on paper, they had prom- ised a lot, but in reality, very lit- tle was implemented. To date, renewable sourc- es provide 200MW of energy. During this year, we encour- aged households and business- es to invest more in renewable energy. We allocated a total of 51MW available in terms of capacity allocation of renew- ables for this year alone. We have achieved, and exceeded, our national renewable energy system share and we are deter- mined to keep on moving stead- ily forward. This year we did not only launch the most ambitious schemes to date, and we are al- so encouraging battery storage, but we have extended the Feed- In-Tariff to cover a total of 20 years. We want our families to be part and parcel of this tran- sition. With this decision alone, close to 20,000 families will re- ceive cheaper bills. We have been successful: we are funding technologies such as Air to Water Heat Pumps, Solar Water Heaters, and Bat- tery Storage solutions. The take up more than doubled when compared to previous years. We have been launching sup- port initiatives for enterprises to carry out energy audits while providing financial support schemes for the implementa- tion of new technologies which would result in less energy con- sumption. We are also thinking about fu- ture energy demand, as a result of continued economic growth, electrification of transport and the ship-to-shore projects. The announcement of a second 200MW interconnector cable with an investment of €170 million will address that and it will also provide us with the required infrastructure to in- crease our share of renewables. Earlier this year, I also negotiat- ed a derogation that can allow a proposed hydrogen-ready pipe- line to be recognised as a Pro- ject of Common Interest by the EU. Malta's current source of fuel for electricity is the supply of LNG. A cleaner alternative source of energy would open market options, deliver compe- tition and continue to strength- en Malta's position in terms of security of supply. We are also working on im- proving our billing and distri- bution systems. A lot of work is happening behind the scenes which I look forward to con- tinue delivering in the coming months. FOR the first time in history we are celebrating the Day of the Mediterranean: 28 November. As the Union for the Mediterra- nean we want this day to show us that what unites is stronger than what divides us. We want this day to show us that although there are periods in our past that divide us, we can create a com- mon future. We want this day to be an oppor- tunity "to celebrate achievements, embrace diversity, to strengthen ties between our two shores and to deepen our understanding of each other" and address our common regional and global challenges. There is not one single issue in the region, from COVID to cli- mate change, to energy and water sources, decarbonisation, digitali- sation, lack of economic growth, unemployment and brain drain, poor infrastructure, weak regional integration, immigration, organ- ized crime, terrorism, religious intolerance, hating the "other" … which can be solved by one coun- try alone. We are condemned to solve these problems together or not at all. We are like the sculptures of Thomas Schutte called 'United enemies': two pairs of men, who hate each other and want to get away from each other but cannot, as they are bound to one another with rope. In our small world, and even smaller region, connectivity has made us each other's neighbours. We stress our differences and find it very difficult to get on with each other. We know that disputes among neighbours can be worse than disputes with strangers. As neighbours we are bound to each other. However much we hate each other and want to kill each other we have to find ways of liv- ing together if we are to address adequately our regional and global challenges. With eyes wide open I dream that the way forward for this re- gion is to resurrect the Helsinki spirit and call a Conference on Security and Cooperation in the Mediterranean. Not many had high hopes for that conference in Europe nearly 50 years ago when it was held in the middle of the Cold War. But it proved to be a turning point in the easing of tensions between the West and the East. We need détente in the Mediterranean. Dialogue and ne- gotiation are mostly needed with those with whom we least agree. We have weakened multilater- alism through division, polarisa- tion and mutual distrust and then we blame it for being fragile and ineffective. We have deprived in- clusive multilateral structures and processes of leadership, legitima- cy and resources and then blame them for being dysfunctional. We set up alternative arrangements of fake multilateralism that often marginalise and exclude those we disagree with and withdraw into a bubble of "like-minded" countries and talk to ourselves. Let us define and make workable at least the minimum cooperation we must have to address our com- mon challenges. The alternative is catastrophe. The energy sector: 12 months on Day of the Mediterranean 2021