Former Speaker mum on whether he was tasked to discuss MPs' honoraria in committee

Former Speaker of the House Louis Galea has declined to comment on whether he had any brief by the Prime Minister to kick-start a discussion on increasing MPs' honoraria in the select committee for the strengthening of democracy as hinted by Lawrence Gonzi on Wednesday evening.

The prime minister told parliament that he had hoped the Select Committee, then under Galea's chairmanship, would have discussed various issues, including the rises.

"I have nothing to comment... I am no longer in politics," Galea, today a member of the European Court of Auditors in Luxembourg.

Gonzi never announced officially a Cabinet decision to pay ministers an honorarium as MPs that was €7,000 higher than the standard €19,000. They will be refunding a total of €14,000 in a U-turn designed to quell public outrage, after MP Jean-Pierre Farrugia threatened he would vote any legislative instrument sanctioning the raise.

But there are doubts that Galea himself was never paid the honorarium that Cabinet ministers had been receiving since 2008, who were accorded an additional €26,728 on top of their €40,000 salary. Galea has previously refused to give comment when asked by MaltaToday whether he had ever been paid the MP’s honorarium on top of his salary.

Both the Speaker and the Leader of the Opposition are entitled to the salary increases of Cabinet members.

MaltaToday first reported ministers had been given a handsome salary increase back in December 2008. A spokesman for the prime minister had defended the decision, justifying the ministers’ role as members of parliament as a separate job.