ADPD: Spending €1m a day to subsidise fuel and electricity is 'not sustainable'

Spending over €1 million a day to subsidise Malta’s fuel and electricity is just not sustainable, the country’s green party has said. 

ADPD chairperson Carmel Cacopardo argued at a press conference in Marsa on Saturday morning that while it was essential to ensure those in need received help, that assistance had to be sustainable in the long-term. 

“While helping those in need is a priority, doing so in a sustainable manner is in the interest of all – €1 million per day on these subsidies is definitely not!” he said.

The party he leads believes that rather than having a blanket subsidy that covers price increases for all citizens, irrespective of how much electricity or fuel they use and how well-off they are, the government should only subsidise basic domestic use and introduce additional targeted assistance for “those who really require it.” 

Prime Minister Robert Abela has pushed against that sort of proposal, telling Times of Malta two weeks ago that it is “not easy” to deny the wealthy and the wasteful such subsidies. 

That line of argument did not wash with ADPD, with party Secretary General Ralph Cassar that taking difficult decisions was part of Abela’s job...