Malta’s Permanent Representation to the EU in Brussels breached tax and employment laws for years, according to allegations that appeared in a major Belgian newspaper yesterday.
Belgians who served as secretaries and administrative staff at Dar Malta, the offices of the permanent representation, complained to Le Soir newspaper anonymously they had been paid in cash in order to avoid taxes due to the Belgian authorities.
They also alleged they had been paid less than the minimum wage, been subjected to working long hours without being paid overtime and had spent months without a proper contract.
The news was given prominence in Le Soir on the day Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi was in Brussels for an EU summit.
The government said the situation of locally engaged staff had now been regularised and all contracts were being drawn up according to Belgian rules.
Apart from employing Maltese experts in various areas of specialisation to take care of Malta’s dossiers during EU discussions, the representation engages Belgians to assist in the daily administration, as is customary with embassies and permanent representations. This lowers the cost of overseas missions as locally engaged staff are not entitled to the substantial allowances paid to diplomats working overseas.
According to Le Soir, dozens of Belgian employees at Dar Malta left their job due to the appalling employment conditions.
One employee was quoted saying that, in May 2007, locally engaged staff requested a meeting with the head of administration at Dar Malta to demand they be paid overtime, have a standard pay slip and be reimbursed for transport costs. He claimed the administration only agreed to pay their transport costs and an overtime rate that was lower than the legal tariff.
The government said the conditions of employment were introduced in 1997 under a Labour Administration and had now been improved and regularised.
“Certain conditions of employment were introduced at the Embassy of Malta to Belgium in 1997, which later applied also to the Permanent Representation to the EU. Certain elements of these conditions of employment started to be phased out as from January 1, 2006 on instructions from the Permanent Representative,” the government said.
The government said that, following the approval of more funds by the Ministry of Finance this year, “the conditions of employment for all locally engaged personnel with the Embassy of Malta to Belgium and the Permanent Representation of Malta to the European Union in Brussels are now in line with Belgian law”.
The budget for Dar Malta and Malta’s Embassy to the Kingdom of Belgium this year is estimated at €3.7 million.