PD MPs will seek to stop the ‘MP pension grab’

● PD to launch petition on Parliament’s online system demanding MP Pension Grab bill be withdrawn

Partit Demokratiku’s Members of Parliament have asked for the Opposition’s Whip to be represented in the Bill of Committees with regard to an Act to amend various laws in connection with the pension reform, regarding which they will also be asking for a debate when it is presented for a third reading.

The party said yesterday that the debate will be followed by a call for a division on the vote, forcing all MPs to declare where they stand on the contentious issue. PD said it will also ask the Clerk of the House to launch a petition on Parliament’s online system to give citizens a chance to voice their disapproval at the proposals and make sure that Parliament truly listens.

“We stand with the many, not the few,” said PD leader Anthony Buttigieg. “The PL and the PN are looking after their own interests before taking care of the Maltese that elected them. We will take initiatives to ensure that people will have a decent income in retirement.

“The cost of living is spiralling beyond control and people, especially pensioners, are not managing to make ends meet. We must set an example,” said PD MP Godfrey Farrugia.

“The PL and PN have turned on the hard-working people of Malta and Gozo. They are partners in this,” PD MP Marlene Farrugia added.

PD said it will also launch a petition on the online system of the House of Representatives with a view to giving people a chance to voice their disapproval of the new law. “The petition will need to be discussed by the Petitions Committee in Parliament, who will then decide whether a second debate on the subject will be held in Parliament. This will really show who the politicians who listen to the people are, and who are not,” Godfrey Farrugia explained, noting that PL and PN members sit on the Committee and their respective parties have already expressed their position in favour of the new law.

The party stressed that it was formed in 2016 to promote a vision of placing the interests of the citizen first and foremost, against the excesses of the state, while expecting the citizen to have a certain responsibility to his community and society at large. PD said it will abide by these founding principles.

The revision to the law, presented this week, will give MPs a full two-thirds pension after only one term in the House, as against the two-term timeframe which has been the practice up until now.