The Nationalist Party said this evening that the raise which ministers were getting through the retention of their parliamentary honorarium amounted to €367 and not €500 as the Leader of the Opposition has said in Parliament.

In a statement, the party explained that the honoraria of MPs, which was to have been raised to 70% of pay scale one of the civil service, had been frozen at 50% and this amounted to €357 weekly.

The PN said that Dr Muscat had demonstrated political opportunism when he declared today that he agreed that there should be a revision of MPs' honoraria and the financial packet of MPs - after having waged a negative campaign which attempted to discredit MPs.

The party said it welcomed the decision whereby ministers had agreed to refund the increase they had been given to the honorarium - almost €20,000 each over two years, including tax.

"The government clearly demonstrated that it is not insensitive," the party said.

It hoped that the forthcoming talks on the honoraria within the House Committee would reflect political maturity and not political opportunism.