Tomorrow, Thursday Feb 22, the European Parliament’s Energy committee will vote on the latest list of ‘Projects of Common Interest’ – the EU’s list of priority energy infrastructure projects to receive support. This 6th list continues to feature fossil fuel projects and will include the controversial Maltese Melita TransGas pipeline, marked by assassination, corruption, and environmental destruction as well as the East Med gas pipeline.
The 6th PCI list is the latest list to feature new fossil gas infrastructure, which places Europe on a trajectory for decades more of dependence on fossil fuels. While the world has just registered the first year-long breach of the key 1.5C warming limit, the EU is set to support two gas mega projects, Melita and EastMed, as well as other highly problematic fossil fuel hydrogen-based projects . FoEE is asking the ITRE MEPs to show true commitment to the EU climate ambition and act in the common interest of Europeans by rejecting the PCI list in its current form.
Colin Roche, climate justice and energy campaigner at Friends of the Earth Europe said
“This project is one of the last vestiges of a fossil fuel age that Europe has not yet had the courage to end but which the climate crisis urgently demands we do. It’s time to finally pull the plug on new fossil fuel projects and concentrate our efforts on cheap reliable renewables. The European Parliament should reject these fossil fuel projects and demand a fossil free energy system instead”.
The Maltese project, and the connected power plant project, is connected to Yorgen Fenech, who stands accused of commissioning the murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia.
Corruption in the project was a core part of Daphne Caruana Galizia’s investigations, which, according to the findings of the public inquiry into her assassination, possibly motivated her murder. By adding the project to the PCI list, the European Union and Malta disregard corruption and murder.
Matthew Caruana Galizia, Daphne’s son, said
“The European Union and Malta risk not only rewarding the alleged killer of Daphne Caruana Galizia but also her murder itself”.
Friends of the Earth Malta and The Daphne Caruana Galizia Foundation are campaigning to stop the pipeline project. They have gathered 1000 signatures on a public letter asking decision makers to ensure that no public money goes to this fossil fuel project. The letter has been sent to decision makers both in Malta and in the EU institutions: Malta’s Prime Minister Robert Abela, Energy Minister Miriam Dalli, and Finance Minister Clyde Caruana, as well as MEPs part of the ITRE (Industry, Research and Energy) Committee.
Suzanne Maas, Climate campaign coordinator at Friends of the Earth Malta said:
“The proposed Melita TransGas pipeline would lock Malta into another 40 years of fossil fuel dependence and ultimately be a climate-incompatible investment, leading to stranded assets and wasting public money.”
For background, see the Friends of the Earth Malta report, Towards a Fossil Free Malta: A report on the energy system in Malta, its climate impacts and a vision for the future, June 2023, and the Friends of the Earth Cyprus video on the EastMed Pipeline.
