(Adds government statement)
Thousands of Maltese who served with the British forces and have been resisting pension cuts by the Maltese government for over 30 years got a big boost to their cause yesterday.
In a formal opinion, the European Union’s Attorney General, Yves Bot, concluded that Malta had infringed EU rules in deducting pensions received by former employees of the British government.
The government said in a statement this afternoon it took note of the opinion.
If the legal opinion is confirmed by EU judges, it could have very serious implications for Malta’s public purse, as the government may have to pay millions of euros in denied pension payments.
Sources close to the European Court of Justice told the Times of Malta the final judgment by the Luxembourg-based European Court of Justice is expected to be given early next year.
The ECJ confirms about 85 per cent of the Attorney General’s opinions, the sources added.
The National Association of Service Pensioners was overjoyed with the news. When contacted, Publius Grech, the association’s general secretary, said: “We have been waiting so long for this and, finally, we are seeing light at the end of the tunnel. Successive government have been taking us for a ride for far too long.”
Asked what would happen if Malta lost the case, Mr Grech did not mince words: “The government will have to give us back what was unjustly taken away from us."
GOVERNMENT TAKES NOTE OF OPINION
In a statement this afternoon, the government said it took note of the opinion and awaited the final outcome of the decision of the Court of Justice of the European Union.
It said that the case was about British service pension schemes which to date were not declared to fall under the scope of the regulations Dr Bot had said Malta infringed.
It noted that in 1997, a process was started through which the amount of service pension abated for social security pension purposes was decreased resulting in thousands of service pensioners enjoying substantially higher social security pensions in the past 20 years.