Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi hoped this morning that the House Business Committee will agree on MPs’ honoraria once and for all for the revision that was needed to be carried out.

Speaking at a party activity, he said he did not agree MPs should keep receiving certain perks, such as free Air Malta tickets, and he also wanted all MPs to be treated in the same manner, irrelevant of their political colour.

This, he said, had always been the crux of his argument. The PL had MPs who received their honorarium as well as their pay as civil servants. This had not always been the situation.

When he introduced this system, these MPs had also received the infamous €600 pay increase, which was not €600 at all.

Dr Gonzi referred to Dr Muscat’s statement that he did not know anything about the developments. The Prime Minister insisted that he did.

He quoted from the minutes of a meeting held on July 9, 2009 by the Former MPs Association and signed by former Labour MP Lino Debono, in which the association requested the House Welfare Committee to extend to pensions the increase that had been given to ministers and parliamentary secretaries.

“Not only did they know what we were receiving but they wanted more,” he said.