After fuel hedging, government now wants LPG price stability

After Enemalta Corporation opted for a hedging strategy which would lock the prices of diesel and petrol for three months, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat revealed it was government's goal to achieve a similar policy with regard to gas cylinders.

"After reducing the prices of unleaded and diesel and providing price stability for three months, our priority is to do the same with LPG," Muscat announced.

"With winter approaching, we all know that the consumption of gas cylinders will increase and we also know that having price stability will help households and business."

The Prime Minister, who is now in Toronto, was speaking during a phone-in on One Radio. 

Recounting the Maltese delegation's experience to the United Nations General Assembly, Joseph Muscat said the trip also served to strengthen Malta's bilateral relations with countries in the Mediterranean region.

The delegation's countless meetings with Arab countries included Egypt, Tunisia, Lybia, Pakistan, Qatar and the Gulf Cooperation Council among others. An air service agreement with Kuwait was also signed.

But for the first time, Malta also held a bilateral meeting with Somalia, which Muscat insisted it was his exact wish to do so, ever since he was elected prime minister.

"The majority of migrants who land on Malta's shore come from Somalia and it doesn't make sense not to have a point of contact with this country," Muscat said.

"This is an issue which affects both Malta and Somalia and this meeting was the first step."

He added that he first met informally Somalia's prime minister and held an official meeting with the deputy prime minister: "We formally put forward our call for relations between the two countries and we will keep on insisting for more open channels."

The Prime Minister expressed his satisfaction over the meeting held with Russia's foreign minister Sergei Lavrov.

"Despite him being very busy with the Syrian conflict, the Russian delegation still found time to meet us and this has sent a strong message," Muscat said, adding that Lavrov had been "very-well briefed" on Malta.

Muscat noted that the general assembly itself had been an opportunity for Malta "to place irregular migration on the agenda".

During their five days in New York, Muscat and his wife met with US President Barack Obama and the First Lady and were also invited to an evening with the Bill Clinton family.

'Panicking' Simon Busutill

Reacting to this week's events in Malta, Joseph Muscat said Opposition leader Simon Busuttil was "panicking and isolating himself with his negative attitude".

"He started off with the China agreement, criticising the deal and now he has moved on to Air Malta," Muscat said.

The Prime Minister insisted that the Labour government's plan with regard to Air Malta's restructuring process was the same as that embarked upon by the Nationalist administration.

"We changed no one and nothing. We let the people appointed by the Nationalist government to go on with their plans so that no one would accuse us of having interfered with the restructuring process.

"Irrespective of the outcome of this plan, everyone would then have to shoulder their responsibility," he warned.

Muscat however held back from commenting Simon Busuttil's declaration that the position of the Police Commissioner was no longer tenable.

Busuttil has called for the resignation of Commissioner of Police Peter Paul Zammit, after his predecessor told a court that both the police and the Attorney General had agreed some time between late 2012 and early 2013 that former European commissioner John Dalli should be charged on allegations of bribery.

"His position is no longer tenable. He took this decision on the Dalli case, against the advice of Rizzo and the Attorney General. And Joseph Muscat must take responsibility for this decision," Busuttil had said.

Peter Paul Zammit declared that the police "did not have enough proof to arraign Mr John Dalli in court, to find him guilty without doubt - which is the degree of proof required at law and our courts. This case is still being investigate and at this stage, any statement would prejudice the case. The Commissioner is not ready to enter into any political controversy that could prejudice ulterior investigations on this case."