A pension law introduced by Dom Mintoff’s Labour government in 1979, providing for the deduction of foreign pensions paid to former Maltese servicemen serving in the British armed forces from the old age pension paid by the Maltese government, has been a bone of contention among those affected for decades.

When introducing the Maltese two-thirds pension for those making their national insurance contributions, the Mintoff government had laid down that those receiving a ‘Service pension’ - a group that included pre-1979 civil servants, police and army officers – would not get the full amount of the contributory pension when they retire.

Ten years ago, a former British serviceman, went to the European Parliament’s Petitions Committee requesting a remedy. His complaint was submitted by then Nationalist MEP Simon Busuttil and was followed by two further petitions.

These prompted the European Commission to start legal procedures against the Maltese government in 2010 on grounds that the deduction of part of the pensions received by former employees of the British government was in breach of EU social security coordination rules. The Maltese government disputed this.

The matter finally came before the European Court of Justice, which has just handed down its decision. To the immense disappointment of the pensioners, the Court dismissed their case.

Thirty-seven years after the British forces left Malta, there are perhaps 1,500 Maltese veterans receiving pensions from the UK Ministry of Defence, amounting in total to an income of about €1.7 million annually. The pensioners would be aged between about 68 and 98 years and about half are over 90 years old.

Despite the decision by the European Court of Justice – inevitably on fairly arcane technical considerations of European law – there can be no denying the moral case put forward by the former Service pensioners since it is absolutely clear these individuals had all paid their full contributions towards their pensions. Common justice dictates that they were therefore eligible and entitled to receive their full pensions without deduction.

Indeed, since 1997, when the Labour government, under Alfred Sant, was in power, this injustice has been tacitly acknowledged and had begun to be addressed. Dr Sant had promised to pay the full deductions to one third of the locally-enlisted ex-servicemen who received the lowest pension, with the remaining two-thirds being paid in two groups in the future.

This was not followed through, however, when Dr Sant was voted out, except for subsequent one-time concessions being made to the amount deducted by the Fenech Adami and Gonzi administrations. The present government has retained the €200 concession made by the Gonzi administration in every Budget presented thus far.

At face value, the remaining ex-Service pensioners’ plight is hard to accept. Regardless of the technicalities of the law, the case on grounds of fairness, equity and justice is hard to reject. The elderly pensioners deserve better. The money received from them goes directly into the Maltese economy either through their taxes or in local expenditure.

The Maltese economy is no longerin the state it was in back in 1979when this discrimination in pensions was first enacted.

A social injustice was perpetrated 37 years ago against a vulnerable group in our society and the government should demonstrate by its actions it is willing to right the wrongs.

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