Maltese MEPs and the government have warned the European Union that Malta is facing ‘disproportionate’ costs under an EU-wide shipping surcharge, and called for amendments to the policy.
The warning refers to the EU’s Emissions Trading System (ETS), which came into full force in 2026 and imposes a surcharge on imports and exports.
The appeal was made during a conference organised on Wednesday by ATTO, the association representing Malta’s international trailer operators.
The association has long criticised ETS. It calculated that local operators making a round trip to Genoa must pay an additional €734.40 to cover ETS costs for a return journey. Overall, ATTO estimates that ETS will cost local operators around €16.5 million a year.
Speaking at the conference, Transport Minister Chris Bonett said that while decarbonisation is important, it should not come at the expense of operators or consumers.
“This will ultimately fall on the consumer to pay the price. Malta has always been very vocal about how this policy should be applied,” he said.
Bonett explained that ETS makes Europe the only continent to charge shipments for greenhouse gas emissions, which could result in Southern European countries losing business to North African competitors.
“Imagine a ship travelling to the United States, coming from India and stopping in Malta. Now it may opt to stop in Egypt instead,” he said.
Bonett added that Italy, Cyprus, and Greece share Malta’s concerns, and Spain also appears to be moving in the same direction.
MEPs want islands to pay less
Ahead of the European Commission’s planned discussion on revising the ETS in July, PN MEP Peter Agius and PL MEP Thomas Bajada, together with other MEPs from Italy and Cyprus, signed a letter urging the Commission to include an “island clause.”
“Systemic and general safeguards on the needs of islands, so they are not put under disproportionate pressure when it comes to ETS,” Agius explained via a video message streamed at the conference.
The letter asked the Commission to reduce ETS-related surcharges for air and maritime connectivity to island populations.
PL MEP Daniel Attard, present at the conference, also urged the Commission to amend ETS to better cater to islands.
Attard revealed that in January, following a parliamentary question, the Commission informed him that it plans to “withdraw” draft laws intended to amend the Combined Transport Directive.
The Combined Transport Directive, implemented in 1992, provides incentives for lower-emission transport modes, primarily rail, inland waterways, and short-distance shipping. Malta’s longer sea journeys, which are central to its connectivity with Europe, are largely excluded.
The draft laws published in 2023 offered an opportunity to include Malta’s maritime leg, Attard told Times of Malta.
“In line with the interinstitutional agreement on better law-making, both the European Parliament and the Council can express their views on this intention. The Commission will then carefully consider these views before deciding on the next steps,” the Commission told Attard.
Attard said he presented the response to the parliamentary Committee on Transport and Tourism (TRAN), which he is part of, and the committee informed the Commission that parliament does not agree with withdrawing the draft laws.
In response, Bonett said the government is “very disappointed” to hear that the Commission is considering withdrawing an amendment to the directive.
“For now, the government has written an official letter to the Commissioner asking not to discard it, as this would send the wrong message,” he said.
He suggested that opposition may be coming from landlocked nations that do not rely on maritime transport.
“We plan to raise this item on the agenda at the next Transport Ministers’ Council,” he added.
The Malta Business Bureau (MBB) has previously expressed its disappointment over the commission’s decision not to revise the directive.
