Government stops debate on MPs’ pensions after Opposition withdraws consensus

The government announced yesterday evening that it was withdrawing amendments on MP’s pensions after the Opposition withdrew its consensus, which was required for the process to move forward.

Last week the government presented amendments that would have seen MPs becoming entitled to a full pension (upon reaching retirement age) after serving only one term.

Currently they have to serve two terms to be entitled to a Parliamentary pension. Both main parties had initially been in agreement.

Apart from a public outcry, Partit Demokratiku has criticised the proposed reform and launched a Parliamentary petition against the amendments. It said that there should be no reform to MPs’ pensions before all pensioners are in receipt of a decent living pension.

“PD, through one of its MP's, Godfrey Farrugia, has activated for the first time in Malta's history, the democratic tool by enabling the public to petition the Maltese Parliament,” the party said.

Yesterday evening, the Opposition appealed to the government to suspend the debate on the reform on MPs’ pensions.

Opposition Leader Adrian Delia said the decision was taken today at a meeting of the PN’s Parliamentary Group.

Speaking on Net TV, Delia said he had asked PN Whip Robert Cutajar to inform the Government Whip about the party’s decision.

Delia called for a discussion on the best way for the country to think about those who are most in need. On Sunday, Delia challenged Prime Minister Joseph Muscat to launch a serious debate on pension reform, saying that if this did not happen within a month the PN would take the lead and launch the debate itself.

Speaking in Msida, Delia challenged the PM to make pensions the “absolute priority.”

Reacting, the government said a decision on the reform required consensus. Discussions about the proposals put forward by the Association of former MPs had been ongoing for months and the government only proposed the amendments after seeing that there was agreement with the Opposition.

“The Opposition had now changed its position and withdrawn that consensus.

In light of this, the government will be withdrawing the amendments and will not continue with the process that would have addressed anomalies in the law.”

The government said these amendments would only have addressed anomalies and would not have increased MPs’ pensions or given parliamentarians any new privileges.