The Nationalist Party said this afternoon that if the cost of living mechanism (Cola) was indicating a wage increase of only 58c per week, the government should come up with ways to compensate all families for the burdens it was imposing.

The party was reacting to comments by the prime minister yesterday that it would assist small income families despite the cost of living increase of 58c.

The Nationalist Party said that the prime minister lacked credibility when he spoke on salaries and pensions because what he was doing now contrasted with what he did or promised while in Opposition.

Before becoming prime minister, Dr Muscat held street protests over cost of living adjustments which were actually higher than what the government was giving now, the PN said.

He had also promised a substantial raise by promising the ‘living wage’.

Dr Muscat could not be believed because, amid confusion over how much the cost of living raise would be, the Maltese people were still being charged substantially higher prices for petrol and diesel than four years ago, when international oil prices were the same as they are now. Petrol is now 24c per litre more expensive than it was then, and diesel is 30c dearer.

The PN said Dr Muscat could also not be believed because while the workers would receive a 58c raise, the person appointed to announce that raise, Labour MP Carmelo Abela, was getting €58,000 annually.

If the Cola mechanism was really indicating a raise of only 58c, the governemnt should give other compensation to all families for the burdens it was imposing on them, such as the higher fuel costs and other hidden taxes such as the recent increase in exam fees, the PN said.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.