[WATCH] Malta wants equitable green transition that leaves no one behind, Miriam Dalli says

All member states should have the same playing field as the EU transitions towards renewable energy, Miriam Dalli said before meeting fellow EU energy ministers in Brussels.

The Maltese energy minister said “flexibility and interconnections” were key to have a proper transition away from fossil fuels.

“Malta wants to ensure there is equity in the transition and no member state is left behind,” she told journalists in a doorstep comment on Monday.

Asked whether Malta’s quest to have a gas pipeline connection with Sicily financed by the EU dovetailed with the transition away from fossil fuels, Dalli insisted the project was for a hydrogen-ready pipeline.

“We want to build a hydrogen-ready gas pipeline because a [natural] gas pipeline would have locked the country into a future dependent on fossil fuels. We did the studies and amended the financials because we want the country to tap into green hydrogen when this is available. Without this interconnection [pipeline] Malta will be left out of the possibility to tap into green hydrogen,” Dalli said.

Malta is in the process of buildings a second electricity interconnector with Sicily but is also planning on having a gas pipeline connection to Gela to be able to supply the power stations at Delimara.

The project did not feature on the first list of projects of common interest for which EU funding would be available but in 2021 government amended its plans to have a gas pipeline that is hydrogen ready. The Melita Transgas Pipeline, as the project is known, has since been on the EU’s list.

Last month, MEPs on the Industry, Research and Energy Committee (ITRE) voted against an attempt by the Greens and far left grouping to strike down the list of common projects because some of them, like Malta’s, involved new gas infrastructure.

The Daphne Foundation and Friends of the Earth Malta had been campaigning against the project, claiming that EU funds would benefit Electrogas and as a consequence Yorgen Fenech, accused with masterminding the murder of Daphne Caruana Galizia.

The pipeline project is being pushed by Interconnect Malta Ltd, a government owned company.

Energy ministers are meeting in Brussels to discuss the state of play in terms of security of supply, flexibility throughout the transition away from fossil fuels, and the energy situation in Ukraine.