Luckily, the Labour leader, Joseph Muscat, has realised he and his MPs have no right to pocket taxpayers’ money and set up a fund run by the Labour Party.

His new proposal makes sense: it is good to have a commission to establish the remuneration of the President, Prime Ministers, parliamentary secretaries, the Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition, related holders of political office and the honoraria of MPs.

It is however obvious that if MPs remain part-timers they should continue getting their present part-timers’ payment. Honorarium rises for MPs are only justified if MPs become full-time parliamentarians and give up their other full-time work.

The Maltese Parliament is at the moment failing to influence in any way the directives being decided upon in Brussels. It is only a full-time national Parliament that will be able to influence the drafting of such legislation in a pro-active way, before legislation is approved rather than just reacting to European Union laws that have already been approved and passed.

Salary increases and adjustments should only be granted after appropriate studies are carried out and these should be related to the quality of the work delivered by office holders and MPs. It is also important that parliamentarians dedicate their full time to their job as legislators.

If not, then the spending of €80 million on a new House of Parliament would be a total waste of money if this is only meant to house a group of part-timers.