Malta was on the brink of a historic agreement to raise the minimum wage, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said this morning.

Addressing a conference organised by the GWU, Dr Muscat said all those involved in the talks needed to swallow a bit of pride.

Only some minor issues remained before an agreement was reached, Dr Muscat said.

He said the government was at the closest point of reaching an agreement in modern history.

This would lay the foundations for substantial social progress, Dr Muscat said, with the government seeking to improve both workers’ conditions, as well as their quality of life

He said the prerequisite of all this was a strong economy, driven by investment.

Dr Muscat said the government could easily have chosen to go down the route of austerity when it was first elected in 2013.

Instead, the government had provided both economic stimulus as acting with a social conscience, Dr Muscat said.

The Prime Minister said that in just three years, the amount of people living in severe material deprivation had been halved.

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