‘Government decision on honoraria is logical ’

Foreign Minister Tonio Borg defended the government’s decision to grant ministers their honoraria as MPs, along with the ministerial salary, saying it was logical.

Speaking in Parliament, he said that the only purpose of the opposition motion that was critical of the decision was political gain. He recalled that in the last legislature, it was decided that civil servants who became MPs would not lose their salary and would still receive their parliamentary honorarium.

Some government employees could even take their salary and their honoraria, while also continuing with private practice.

This principle had, in this legislature, been extended to ministers because they too were public officers who received a salary from the state. Like the other MPs who were also employed by the state, the ministers were now receiving their salary plus the honoraria.

This was the same as, say, in the House of Commons. Being a minister and serving as an MP were two different things, and those holding the two positions were actually sworn in twice.

One had to ask, Dr Borg said, whether ministerial pay, including both the salary and the honoraria, was fair when compared to the public and private sectors.

People did not go into politics for the money, he said. But people should not be discouraged from serving their country because their pay was woefully inadequate when compared to the private sector and even some positions in public corporations.

It was also worth pointing out, Dr Borg said, that ministerial pensions were not affected because pensions were calculated only on the basis of basic salary.

The minister insisted that the raise given to the ministers was never shrouded in secrecy. It was mentioned in the newspapers and was also listed in the annual ministerial declaration of assets.