Petrol prices: the government is behaving like the most avid businessman

In other European countries the private oil companies make a profit on the sale of petrol, while the governments concerned collect duties and taxes on such sales.

Here in Malta, the government does not only collect duties and taxes on the sale of petrol, but it also makes a profit through the state-owned company Enemed Company Limited.

In the circumstances, the price of petrol in Malta should be the lowest in the EU 28, and not the highest! The government of Malta is acting like the most avid businessman.

On Monday, 26 June, at 56 cents a litre, the price of petrol in Malta net of duties and taxes was 9 cents higher than the weighted average price of petrol net of duties and taxes of the EU 28.

The price of petrol in Malta was 13 cents higher than the price of petrol net of duties and taxes in the United Kingdom, that is 23% higher.

Why cannot Enemed procure its petrol supplies from the same sources from which the UK obtains its supplies? How much profit is Enemed making on the sale of petrol?

This has been reported in the Weekly Oil Bulletin on consumer prices of petroleum products net of duties and taxes published by the European Commission.

The situation in the sale of diesel is not much different. While the price of diesel net of duties and taxes in Greece and Estonia is higher than in Malta, at 53 cents per litre, the price of diesel net of duties and taxes in Malta is 6 cents higher than the EU 28 weighted average.

The price of diesel in Malta, net of duties and taxes is 11 cents higher than the price in Slovenia, or 21%.

Everybody knows, with the exception apparently of the European Commission, that in Malta there is only one price for petrol and only one price for diesel. In which other EU Member State do we find such a situation?

For how long is the government continue to permit Enemed to abuse its dominant position in the local petroleum market? Where is Margrethe Vestager? Are Maltese consumers of petroleum products second-class EU citizens?

The European Commission was too quick to close the infringement procedure on Malta’s monopoly in the petroleum sector. In spite of the change in the legislation, the ad hoc monopoly is still there, and Article 37 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) is still being violated. Alfred A. Farrugia Malta Automobile Club