[attach id=255625 size="medium"]PN leader Simon Busuttil.[/attach]
The Prime Minister has called on former Nationalist ministers to refund in full the pay rise they gave themselves in May 2008.
PN leader Simon Busuttil should convince them to do so “as they gave the impression that they did,” a spokesman for Joseph Muscat said.
According to information given in Parliament by Dr Muscat on Tuesday, about €300,000 of the €1.6 million PN ministers and parliamentary secretaries had received were returned.
Yesterday, his spokesman accused Dr Busuttil of trying to hide the facts and playing with words in press conferences, to the effect that the former ministers had paid back the full amount they took “behind people’s backs”.
“The former ministers who took the pay rise are now prominent in Busuttil’s shadow cabinet. They should remain politically accountable to the people,” he said.
A look at former Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi’s statements in the last legislature shows the Government never said ministers and parliamentary secretaries would be refunding the bulk of their raises.
In January 2011, the Government accepted to downgrade the honorarium being received by Cabinet members to pre-2008 levels and refund the difference between the two rates.
This was because ministers and parliamentary secretaries not only allowed themselves to start receiving the honoraria paid to MPs but effectively increased this honorarium only for themselves.
A year later, Dr Gonzi had announced a reshuffle and said that the “second pay”, as Dr Muscat dubbed it, would no longer be received. But at no point was it said that the salaries received until then would be refunded.
In reaction to Labour’s accusations, the PN said the former Cabinet paid back all the money Dr Gonzi had promised it would.
Dismissing Labour’s charges as “totally unfounded”, the PN said the Labour Government was only interested in playing the games it played when in Opposition.
Key moments of honoraria debacle
May 5, 2008: Cabinet decides the Prime Minister, ministers, parliamentary secretaries, the Speaker and the Leader of the Opposition can start receiving their honoraria as MPs, which will be raised for all MPs to €26,700 from €19,000.
December 8, 2010: Finance Minister Tonio Fenech announces the Cabinet decision in reply to a parliamentary question, sparking a discussion over whether this is the right time for MPs to get a raise.
January 13, 2011: Nationalist MP Jean-Pierre Farrugia renounces his raise and says “heads must roll” after it emerges that ministers were already getting their upwardly increased honoraria since May 2008.
January 19, 2011: Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi tells Parliament that changes to the honoraria will be postponed and Cabinet will refund the difference but retain what Labour called their second pay.
May 6, 2011: Times of Malta reveals that ministers also had their duty allowances raised by €6,000 and that the Opposition Leader and former Speaker Michael Frendo never had their raises implemented.
June 19, 2011: Dr Gonzi apologises for the honoraria debacle, takes responsibility himself and admits that a series of mistakes were made in the implementation and communication of the raises.
January 6, 2012: Dr Gonzi announces a Cabinet reshuffle and says that ministers and parliamentary secretaries will no longer get paid their honoraria as an example of the Government’s cost-cutting exercises.