Category: Energy

Categories
Energy Politics

Kliem il-Fieragħ

fieragh_akkuza

“Mhux fjer. Korrotti. Ħbieb tal-Ħbieb. Issa jmiss lilna. Issa daqshekk. Roadmap. Tagħna lkoll. Gvern ta’ Kullħadd. Għal kullħadd. Tagħna lkoll. Neħilsu iċ-ċittadin mil-jasar u mit-tgħakkis tal-kontijiet. Tagħna lkoll. Tagħna lkoll.”

Xi krexxendo sabiħ. Ifjen mill-oħla kant tal-knejjes kattoliċi. Il-kant tal-emmna fejn il-kelma hija il-qofol ta’ kollox. Verbum Dei. Il-kelma issawret fl-imħażen tal-partit u twasslet ma’ l-erbat irjieħ mill-qaddejja tal-mexxej. Għax hekk isiru l-affarijiet. U sabet art għammiela fost ċittadini skuntenti u nibtet iż-żerriegħa tat-tama għax forsi xi darba jmiss lili wkoll. Għax għalhekk għammiela… għammiela bil-bżonnijiet ta’ l-individwi li x’iktarx jiġu ala bieb għajnhom mill-bżonn u ġid komuni.

Imma l-kelma tal-profeta mhix biżżejjed. Kelma torbot fid-dinja tal-irġiel, u l-irġulija tiswa mitqla deheb. Imma mhux dejjem. Jekk int kelmtek tiswa daqs l-arja li toħroġ minn fommok meta tlissinha u daqs dik l-istess arja togħsfor fl-eteru mingħajr ebda xkiel allura tibda titlef il-kredtu. U jekk kelmet il-profeta tal-abbundanza kienet li se jibni kastell fi żmien sentejn u li permezz ta’ dan il-kastell ser iraħħas u jtejjeb ħajjet kullħadd – allura jew tkun dik kelma soda u tajba, jewilla tkun kelma fiergħa.

U jekk biex jurina kemm hu tost u ċert (ċertissimu), il-profeta jaħlef pubblikament fuq it-televiżjoni illi jekk ma jsirux l-affarijiet skont kelmtu allura jwarrab, allura iktar u iktar nippretendu li jekk dak li ingħad li għandu jseħħ ma seħħx għandu iwarrab. Kwistjoni ta’ irġulija jekk xejn. Kwistjoni ta’ kelma li tiswa mitqla deheb. Kwistjoni li tibqa’ titqies ta’ bniedem serju u mhux ta’ bniedem tal-kelma fiergħa.

U x’jiġri jekk il-kastelli li bnejt ikunu biss kastelli fl-arja? X’tiswa iktar kelmtek meta tiċħad is-sewwa magħruf? X’tiswa int u x’jiswew ta’ madwarek jekk tibdew tagħżqu bi kliem iktar fieragħ u faċċjoliżmi minflok ma terfgħu responsabilta li tkunu irbatt ruħek biha?

Muscat kien qal li jirriżenja jekk ma jitlestiex il-power station sa’ Marzu tal-2015. Issa reġa bdielu. Jaf lil jekk lin-nies iwiegħdhom roħs fil-kontijiet – jiġri x’jiġri – jaf iżomm dik l-art għammiela bi kwieta ftit ieħor. Sadattant Mizzi intbagħat jagħżaq b’akkużi oħra dwar għemil il-gvern passat sabiex jiddevja ftit l-attenzjoni minn nuqqasijiet ta’ dak ta’ llum. Għax għadhom jaħsbu li n-nies ċwieċ. Għadhom jgħodduhom bħala boloħ, li basta twiegħdhom ftit ċejċa u jkunu lesti jaħfrulek li tkun gdibtilhom f’wiċċhom.

Għadu, Muscat, ixejrilna il-pipa ta’ Magritte f’wiċċna. Għadu jirkanta kelmtu għal dawk l-imzazen li lesti jixtru bl-irħis. U kull ma jmur dik il-kelma qed titlef il-valur.

Kull ma jmur il-votant qed jitgħallem dan Muscat fiex isarraf.

Categories
Energy Middle East Politics

Tan-Numri

This blog never had aspirations to being a number cruncher and we always begin our budget-time assessments with a caveat the size of Manwel Mallia’s mattress. While I do not feel that the minutae of budget balancing is within my sphere of expertise (nowadays everyone seems to be an “expert” in something “f’hiex jifhem?”) I can and will assess the noise created by and around it.

It does not take much to see that as a general line the “state of the economy” bit of the affair tells us one simple message: that the economy was being safely marshalled by the previous PN government and that the PL financial gurus simply had to hold tight to the rudder and control an already steady ship. How does an ignoramus like me notice that? Simples really – there are no groundbreaking measures that would signify a sudden change in direction – little wonder that Muscat expects the Commission to approve his latest milestone in the mysterious roadmap.

When it does boil down to the nitty-gritty Muscat seems to be making much of the fact that he is putting his money where his mouth is. True, we are surprised in the sense that this is the first time that Labour seems to be actually acting in the manner it had promised before the election – and this with regard to one very particular item on the budget list i.e. the cost of water and electricity. Surprised we are because given Labour’s haphazard approach to accountability, environmental transparency, meritocracy etc we should not be blamed had we expected even the black and white promises on the utilities bill to be thrown out of the window.

In his intervention with the press, Simon Busuttil tried (rather vaguely in my opinion – could have been clearer) to explain how the money saved on electricity and water will be repaid threefold via the newly introduced or increased indirect taxes. That’s one for the number crunchers to confirm/contradict. If it is so (and quite frankly it must be so since the money must come from somewhere) then Labour’s deceptive basket of “cutting the utilities bill” will turn into a time bomb ready to explode when the voters realise that their pennies saved have actually transformed in pounds pinched.

What did jar insofar as the opposition reaction was concerned is the assertion that this budget contains no job-producing measures. Given the noise coming from other social partners this particular reaction might turn out to look like one of those that is simply “negative for the sake of being negative”.  The MEA (Employers), MDA (Developers), MHRA (hotels & restaurants), GWU (you know), and the Chamber of Commerce and Enterprise all seem to have hooked on to more positive aspects of certain measures in the budget including job-creation. Bar the angry nurses (MUMN), the FORUM seems to have had positive words for most of the budget plan, leaving Simon Busuttil and the echoes in a few blogs/columns sounding like lone negative voices.

I am (painfully) aware that the “negative” mantra is something close to Joseph Muscat and believe you me I am not using it in the same sense. Labour’s little measures (COLA, petrol prices, cigarettes, educational footballers) might have served as a little decoration around the most awaited measure of cheaper utility bills (let’s face it, it was the only thing most people were looking at this time round). Some other measures such as the incentives for first time house buyers will be warmly welcomed (for a better highlight of positives and negatives check out Mark Anthony Sammut’s early assessment).

Should Busuttil have focused so strongly on job-creation? I believe that the biggest flaw in Labour’s budget hype is the very fact that it is much ado about nothing. The bigger emphasis should remain on the citizenship for sale system that stinks from top to bottom. other than that Busuttil should have thanked Muscat for confirming that there was absolutely nothing wrong with the direction in which the PN was heading finance-wise and allowed this first Labour budget to shine by reflecting the light shone earlier in the year by its predecessors.

As for the cut in utility bills. While Muscat played his little fiddle in parliament last night, East Libya (the oil rich East Libya) declared an autonomous government and gunshots were being fired in Tripoli. Meanwhile we have obscure deals built on Chinese whispers and a not too tenuous link between the latter and our new citizenship scheme.

When it comes to surprises Muscat cannot be more of a jester than this.

 

Categories
Energy

That China Connection

1. From Closed Shop to Open All Hours

In 1405 the Great Emperor Yongle sponsored a massive mission of world exploration that would be captained by the explorer Zheng He. The boats used by these expeditions were among the largest sail powered boats the world had ever seen – by comparison Colombus’ three vessels when he set off for the Indies would measure one-eighth of the Chinese behemoths). This Age of Chinese exploration was brief. The expeditions went far and wide and magnificent gifts were brought back from places such as Malindi in Africa (most memorably a giraffe). The next Emperors though believed that such explorations were a waste of public expense and China would soon close in upon itself and clam up to the world (including an outright ban on sailing ships).

Fast forward to  1793 Lord Macartney made a trip to China in a bid (sponsored by Mad King George) to convince the hermit power to open up to European trade. Emperor Qianlong fobbed off the British entreaty towards openness (See the rather interesting reply here) and while ordering King George III to “tremblingly obey” his wishes Qianlong maintained what would be a short lived policy of closed-shop. The main reason imputed to Qianlong’s decision was that China already had everything it needed.

Fast forward again and watch how in gradual steps starting in the nineteen-eighties Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao transformed China’s outlook towards the world. The giant nation is now a huge force to be reckoned with and is bulging with economic muscle that can be flexed around the world. This time there should be no turning back…

2. Ma Tagħmlu Xejn Ma’ Dr Joseph

Which brings me to the current government’s sudden trysts with the Chinese behemoth. In the run up to the election we already had a Labour delegation scooting up to the new land of opportunity presumably to prepare the preliminaries for deals should they get into government. Nothing wrong in that, at all. The media exercise in recent days has been such as to highlight the fact that Chinese Investement is sought after across the continent and not just by the Taghna Lkoll government. Such news is brilliant for the non-discerning voter of course – and all it took Joseph Muscat was a little trip to a sort of Economic Forum in Dailan China (a sort of young leaders exercise mainly intended to promote China and Chinese economic clout).

The Bulgarian and if I am not mistaken Finnish Prime Minister also attended this little chat to a mostly empty room in Dailan. Attendance was not important from the Maltese perspective though, what really counted were some sound clips from Muscat such as the fact that Europe lacked real leadership or the assumption that “EU PM’s agreed that Chinese investment is important”. The impression given by the press bytes back home was that there was an impromptu EU28 meeting of heads of state in Dalian and that the leaders had all agreed to issue a statement confirming the importance of Chinese investment.

It’s not that Chinese investment is not an attractive opportunity. Not at all. The CIC that basically manages $200 billion in dollars of foreign reserves for the Chinese government and is constantly injecting capital into public and private projects (Joseph Muscat did mention their foray into Thames Water as an example of special national services being sold to the Chinese). “As of August 2013, the CIC has 575.2 billion in assets under management.” (Wikipedia)

One type of investment occurs when Chinese companies buy into European counterparts. I drive a car that’s nominally Swedish (a Volvo) but the manufacturer is owned by Geely Automobile who bought it off another non-European company called Ford. American today, Chinese tomorrow – capital wise that is but still Swedish safety and know-how. So the Chinese companies are attracted by the expertise and know how of the company they are ultimately purchasing. Back in China the purchasing company gets additional credibility through its collaboration. Luxembourg’s Cargolux was under scrutiny for a similar kind of buyout only last week.

Then there is the Maltese MOU with the Chinese authorities. We should premise that nothing is certain about what was exactly agreed and that we have to wait for the details to be stamped out – presumably in a decent parliamentary debate (without the excuse of economically sensitive information shrouding the whole exercise). The first glaring inconsistency in this “investment” is that in the economic world you do not get something for nothing. So if we do know that the Chinese are paying €200 million into Enemalta we need to know what they are getting in return.

Moody’s seem to know more than the media in this respect, here is what they said in their latest report:

In addition, the government recently announced that it had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the China Power Investments Corporation (CPIC), one of the five largest state-owned electricity producers in China. As part of the agreement, Shanghai Electric Power, a subsidiary of CPIC will become a minority shareholder in Enemalta, providing the Maltese utility company with a cash injection that will improve its financial position. Enemalta and CPIC also plan to set up a joint venture to produce photo-voltaic units for sale in Malta and across the EU, which would help Malta reach its renewable energy production targets,while providing China with a foothold in the European solar energy market.

Another initiative between both parties is the setting up of a Energy Service Centre that will cater for the maintenance and service of energy production plants in Southern Europe, Turkey, the Gulf and Africa, a venture that is likely to further boost economic activity in Malta.

So if Moody’s are right then the CPIC will provide the “cash injection” and in return set up a “joint venture” to produce PV units in Malta (apart from the Energy Service Centre). Which brings me to the balancing out part of the equation. So the Maltese government has effectively charged a Chinese company 200€ million in order to “allow” it to set up shop in an EU Territory and break into the PV market that is worth trillions of euros last I checked. It does not stop there. The 200€ million give Shangai Electric Power a stake in one of our most important assets – Enemalta – effectively limiting our sovereign independence where energy is concerned.

Many more questions need to be asked about the PV manufacturing plant in Malta. Hopefully these will be done in the right forum in Parliament. Meanwhile the optimism among the Labour crowd is palpable. Joseph Muscat has got Malta a “deal” like some latter day Mintoff and brought much needed money to the Enemalta purse. At what cost though? Are we fully aware of the risks involved and of what really has been sold to the Shangai Electric Power?

As for Moody’s report. It just calls a spade a spade. IF the Labour promises do work out then the outlook is deemed to be good. Call me negative if you will but the most significant paragraph in the report is the following – something none of the media seems to highlight:

We do note, however, that the planned reforms are ambitious and there are risks to its successful implementation. For instance, the building of new infrastructure relies on the interest of private partners, adding a degree of uncertainty as to whether a suitable partner may be identified. Moreover, Enemalta’s financial health could be jeopardised by a premature cut in tariffs should anticipated savings be delayed. Nonetheless, we believe that the sovereign will benefit from a less volatile Enemalta and a more resilient energy sector that is likely to attract greater investment to the country as input costs fall.

Private partners can easily be found if you sell your wares for cheap or if you offer to “prostitute” your sovereignty for a measly cash-injection (Shangai Electric Power are buying into our sovereign Energy for the price of two Welsh International Footballing Superstars – and they get a foothold into the PV market to boot). True the opposition populist taunts of “China with a finger on our Energy button” are still part of the same old same old diatribe but then again other huge alarm bells begin to ring when you notice that our Energy Minister has a not too nuanced China Connection that runs in the family so to speak.

Add to that the wanton nonchalance with which this labour government seems to want to appoint personnel in the diplomatic and economic fields on the basis of what can only be described as nepotism and you can begin to piece together a not so rosy picture.

This government was elected with promise of cheaper light, it seems to be rushing headlong into a tunnel of darkness. And this is not only thanks to the Chinese.