The Nationalist Party has asked the government to give workers more than the 58 cents a week in cost-of-living-adjustment proposed for next year.

Addressing a press conference in front of the Office of the Prime Minister, PN finance spokesman Tonio Fenech said that in 2010, when the COLA was €1.16 a week, Labour had organised a protest in Valletta to complain and condemn the government.

Mr Fenech said that according, to Joseph Muscat’s yardstick, the Prime Minister should now introduce measures, such as tax credits and extra compensation, to make sure that people, particularly those on the poverty line, are adequately compensated.

We aren’t criticising the mechanism, we expect Dr Muscat to fulfil his promises

“Dr Muscat had said in 2010 that the €1.16 was a joke and that he would have introduced other incentives. We are now expecting him to deliver and improve on the 58 cents once he is now the Prime Minister,” Mr Fenech said.

The cost-of-living-adjustment mechanism has been in place for a number of years and is supported by the social partners.

It calculates wage compensation according to a formula based on inflation for the year before.

Inflation has been low this year, partly due to the downward revision in utility tariffs.

Mr Fenech said that the average COLA adjustment during the previous PN administration (2008 – 2013) amounted to €3.84 a week or €200 a year.

This year, Dr Muscat would be giving families just €30 a year, saving some €40 million in expenditure through the Budget, he said.

While the government had been boasting about the reduction in electricity tariffs by €30 million, it is now taking away €40 million from people’s pockets by giving just 58 cents compensation instead of the average €3.84.

Mr Fenech asked why the €1.16 originally approved for this year had suddenly become 58 cents and asked whether this was the first result of the letter sent by Brussels ordering the government to revisit the Budget.

Asked whether he was criticising the COLA mechanism, which the PN used to defend in government, Mr Fenech said Dr Muscat had suggested further compensation beyond that granted by the mechanism, including the introduction of a living wage.

“We aren’t criticising the mechanism,” he said. “We are just expecting Dr Muscat to fulfil his promises.”

Last night Dr Muscat said the government was ready to compensate low-income families but not to tinker with the mechanism.