Managing by crisis, whether in a commercial organisation or in government, is empirical evidence of the absence of a strategic planning culture. Minister for IT and Investments Austin Gatt’s out-of-the-blue (pardon the pun) announcement of the energy crisis to MCESD took the country by storm. In all fairness, the skyrocketing price of oil is well beyond the control of government and no amount of crying-over-spilt-milk hedging arguments is going to change the reality we all face. The best Labour can do is to ask for the head of ex-Minister Josef Bonnici (goldenly parachuted into Luxembourg) who bears responsibility for removing hedging at a time when the price of oil was at basement bargain prices compared to today’s.

The Malta Independent