Updated - Servicemen's association reacts - The government has welcomed a decision by the European Court of Justice where it confirmed that rules were not being broken when ex-servicemen who received British services pensions had deductions made in their Maltese social security pension.
The government had been taken to court by the European Commission
"Despite the decision in its favour, the government will remain committed to improve the position of those in receipt of services pensions, without distinction," the government said.
It explained that since 1997 the deductions made had been been gradually reduced.
in a reaction, the Malta GC Branch of the Royal Air Force Association said it regretted the European Court of Justice decision.
"The reduction in the National Contributory Pension was instituted by the Malta Government in 1979. It is the position of the RAFA Association in Malta that this reduction was, and still is, morally wrong in that the affected ex-British Service personnel had all paid full contributions towards their pension and were therefore eligible, and entitled, to receive their full pension without deduction," the association said.
"Successive Malta Governments have promised much in terms of a review but delivered little apart from platitudes. Eligibility criteria have been fudged and misunderstood. The end result has been that the affected personnel have been deprived of their rightful pension for many years because of a lack of political will to see justice done. Most pensioners are now well into their seventies and even nineties and many have passed away. It is the Association position that this continued mandatory reduction is immoral and causes hardship amongst those affected and their families.
"The pensions paid by the UK Ministry of Defence are ploughed back into the Malta economy as remittances from abroad. Ex-British Services Pensioners living in Malta, during 2014 received over €1.7m from the UK Ministry of Defence which directly benefits the Maltese Government and the Malta economy. In addition, approximately €300,000 was paid in income tax to the Malta Government by the affected pensioners with the ‘withheld’ element of the pension amounting to some Euro 380,000. A UK payment of €1.7m resulted in less than €1.0m being paid to the recipients of the pension here in Malta.
"It is time for the Government of Malta to live up to its declarations of support and understanding and finally bring this shameful state of affairs to an end, enabling the few Maltese UK Service Pensioners left on this earth to enjoy the full pension to which they are entitled through their service in the British Forces and their contributions towards the National Contributory Pension Scheme."