Labour leader Joseph Muscat asked today what will happen on Saturday, when Parliament votes on an Opposition motion against the raise which ministers had given themselves.
Speaking in Paola this morning, Dr Muscat said Dr Gonzi was the best paid Prime Minister that Malta ever had, and he had imposed the heaviest burdens on the people.
On Saturday, the House of Representatives will vote on the €500 a week raise which ministers had given themselves.
The Labour MPs would vote with the people and against the Prime Minister, he said.
"If ever there was a time when MPs had to vote according to their conscience, this is the one," Dr Muscat said.
"The time for words is past, one now either votes with the people, or with Gonzi, there is nowhere in between. On Saturday, every Nationalist MP will have to translate words into fact."
The Labour MPs, he said, were united and would vote against the insensitive attitude of the government ministers.
The Sunday Times reported today that the Nationalist Party is expected to hold a meeting this week to try to convince all MPs to toe the party line and vote against the Labour Party motion objecting to the “insensitive, arbitrary and non-transparent” salary rises awarded to ministers.
Although the PN’s parliamentary group met last Monday to discuss divorce, some MPs are pushing for another meeting to be held since they are not satisfied with the government’s explanations on the salary issue.
The PN has not yet confirmed the meeting will be held, but a source in the party said: “I don’t think we have a choice.”
Although the Labour motion does not ask for the salaries to be refunded, its approval could be damaging for the government because it is likely to be followed up by another motion to repeal the rises completely.
Two Nationalist MPs, Jesmond Mugliett and Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando, have so far declined to say how they will vote, calling for the issue to first be discussed at parliamentary group level.
In an interview in The Sunday Times today, Dr Pullicino Orlando said: “There are a lot of issues that a lot of us want to iron out relating to how Cabinet handled the matter.”
MP Jean-Pierre Farrugia, who spearheaded the campaign against the MP salary rises, said he would vote against the motion – arguing that it wrongly put too much focus on the opposition leader’s salary.
The Labour Party’s motion deals with rises given to Cabinet members in 2008, soon after the PN’s electoral victory. Cabinet had decided the Prime Minister, opposition leader, Speaker, ministers and parliamentary secretaries retain their MPs’ honorarium and receive a higher duty allowance.
The Leader of the Opposition and Speaker were also entitled to an increase in their basic salary.
Cabinet also decided to increase the honorarium to €26,700 from €19,100 – a decision they were later forced to retract following opposition from MPs like Dr Farrugia.
But recently The Times revealed that opposition leader Joseph Muscat and Speaker Michael Frendo never received their honorarium, increased duty allowance or basic salary increase as they were entitled to since 2008.
The Auditor General is also investigating the manner in which the rises were awarded but has not yet commented on the issue.