Konrad Mizzi

Konrad Mizzi (born 4 November 1977) is a Maltese politician and served as a Member of Parliament until 2022.

He served as Minister for Energy and the Conservation of Water between 2013 and 2014, Minister for Energy and Health from 2014 until 2016, and as a Minister within the Office of the Prime Minister in April 2016.

Mizzi was elected in the Maltese Parliament from the Fourth District (Paola, Gudja, Ghaxaq, Tarxien, Santa Lucija and parts of Marsa and Fgura) in March 2013.

Mizzi was appointed by the President, on advice of the Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, as Minister for Energy and the Conservation of Water on 13 March 2013 following the 2013 general elections.

On 1 April 2014, Mizzi was given the responsibility for the Health and Energy portfolio.

In December 2014 Shanghai Electric signed an agreement with the Government of Malta where it acquired a minority stake in the local energy producer Enemalta.

The acquisition was valued at €250 million.

The restructuring envisaged new investment in the local distribution system, as well as transition from oil-fired energy generation to cleaner technology, such as the Malta-Sicily interconnector, gas-fired plants and renewable energy sources.

This is expected to increase the grid redundancy and flexibility.

The Government of Malta retained the majority of share of the energy company.

On 28 April 2016, his position was changed to Minister within the Office of the Prime Minister.

This gave him the responsibility to carry out high-profile projects.

Mizzi was re-elected on 3 June 2017 by four times as many votes as the 2013 election.

He was then appointed by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat to serve as the Minister for Tourism from 9 June 2017 until his 2019 resignation.

Mizzi was educated at the De La Salle College and completed his sixth form at the Paolino Vassallo Upper Lyceum.

He graduated at the University of Malta, reading for Undergraduate degree, and then furthered his education with a post-graduate studies at the University of Nottingham, where he achieved his Masters in Strategic Management.

He furthered his education with a Doctorate at the University of Nottingham.

Mizzi was awarded a Chevening Scholarship from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in the United Kingdom and holds a Diploma in Finance.

Mizzi has led major projects and initiatives across different sectors including public, infrastructure, telecommunications and enterprise promotion.

Mizzi was a Partner and Head of the Energy and Infrastructure Practice for the EMEA Region (Europe, Middle East and Africa) with Pcubed, a global leader in programme management.

He has previously held senior roles with Deloitte and Touche and British Telecom (Programme Director) in the United Kingdom.

In the United Kingdom Mizzi led various change projects which included the forging of an Alliance between seven energy companies which improved services and realised large savings.

He worked with Regional Government leaders of which aim was to improve deprived areas.

He was a member of a team which established the Malta Enterprise.

He was a consultant to the Office of the Prime Minister where he led a number of projects which, included the first public-private partnership to improve landscaping of the main roads in Malta.

Mizzi held the post of Chief Information Officer at Enemalta at the age of 26.

He was re-elected in the 2017 election from the same district.

After the 2017 election, Mizzi was then appointed Minister for Tourism.

Immediately in his new role, he has set out an ambitious business and growth strategy for Air Malta, which builds on its current strengths including punctuality and good service.

In view of this, Air Malta operates regular flights and will continue to increase their frequency to the region's key airports.

One of the clear examples of decisions taken by the new Air Malta board appointed by Minister Konrad Mizzi, was the immediate re-introduction of the Frankfurt route.

The Minister made it also clear that Air Malta will be introducing new routes, and announced an increase in its fleet as part of the new commercial strategy being adopted.

The Minister together with Air Malta will in the coming months negotiate collective agreements, which will provide the airline with more flexibility that is required for growth and will also be fair to its employees.

Mizzi resigned from the cabinet on 26 November 2019, and was voted out of the Labour parliamentary group on 23 June 2020.

Upon assuming office, as the Minister for Energy, Mizzi started implementing the Government's energy plan with the primary aim of reducing utility tariffs.

Following this implementation the government is calculated to have injected about €80 million in the national economy.

Previously utility tariffs in Malta were considered amongst the highest tariffs in Europe, and following the reductions utility tariffs become the fourth cheapest in the European Union.

This measure enabled the local industry to become more competitive.

This saw the transformation of the energy in Malta, contrasting with the situation when Mizzi was given the responsibility when Enemalta was close to declare bankruptcy, with €840 million in debt and was consecutively downgraded by Standard & Poor's.

This affecting the credit ratings of the country at the time.