Labour proposal on review of MPs’ salaries rejected

The government has rejected a proposal by the opposition to set up an external body to review politicians’ salaries.

The declaration was made by Deputy Prime Minister Tonio Borg during a House Business Committee meeting on Wednesday, which was overshadowed by talks on Labour’s divorce referendum motion.

The salary item was on the agenda but was about to be dismissed before Labour deputy leader Anġlu Farrugia demanded a reply to Labour’s proposal made two weeks ago.

At that meeting there seemed to have been agreement that the salaries of MPs should be reviewed by a separate commission. However, a day later Dr Borg released a statement saying the government had not agreed to any of Labour’s proposals.

While Labour wanted the external review to apply to MPs, Cabinet members, the President and other government officials, the government wanted to restrict the discussion to MPs’ salaries.

The way forward is not yet clear but Dr Borg said he was open to considering other proposals that had been made by Labour such as the retention of free services by MPs like envelopes and telephone calls, which were going to be dropped with a rise in the honorarium.

The remuneration received by politicians has been at the centre of a raging controversy after it emerged a few weeks ago that ministers and parliamentary secretaries had been receiving a parliamentary honorarium, besides their salary, since 2008. The honorarium received by members of the Cabinet was also higher than that paid to other MPs pending the implementation of a decision to raise the latter’s pay as well.

After weeks of scathing criticism, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi corrected the “mistakes” and proposed a way of reversing the salary rise. While Cabinet members have retained the MPs’ honorarium, they will refund the rise they received since 2008, to the tune of €14,000 each.

Any rise in the honorarium to MPs was also postponed and the matter referred to the House Business Committee for a decision.

In reply to a parliamentary question tabled by Labour MP Leo Brincat, Finance Minister Tonio Fenech said the government had given ministers and parliamentary secretaries two years to refund the overpayments. This will be done in instalments through a deduction of their salaries. It means they will be receiving €583 less every month for the next 24 months.