Alex Borg rejects €1,700 pay rise also granted to him, calls on prime minister to withdraw increases

Updated at 3:37pm with Opposition statement

Opposition Leader Alex Borg has publicly rejected a €1,700 salary increase that he himself is entitled to receive under the latest budget measures, with the same raise awarded to the Prime Minister, ministers, and parliamentary secretaries.

In a statement released on social media, Borg said he had not been consulted about the increase and would not be accepting it, calling it “unacceptable” at a time when citizens are struggling with the rising cost of living.

The raise was revealed in the budget estimates published on Monday and stems from a €1.3 billion collective agreement signed last November between the government and 33,000 public service workers. The agreement, which came into effect earlier this year, provided salary increases and better working conditions for public employees.

Because the salaries of Malta’s top constitutional officials are pegged to the public service’s highest pay scale, the deal automatically triggered pay rises for senior state figures, including the prime minister, ministers, the president, the chief justice, judges, and the leader of the Opposition.

Under the new scales, the prime minister’s basic annual salary will climb from around €63,000 to nearly €64,900 by 2026. Ministers and parliamentary secretaries will each see their pay rise by roughly €1,700 to just over €57,000, while the Opposition Leader will receive a similar increase of about €1,500, bringing his salary to just under €52,000.

Despite standing to benefit personally, Borg insisted that accepting the raise would be “wrong” and urged Prime Minister Robert Abela to immediately withdraw the increases for himself and his Cabinet. He accused the government of trying to hide the measure and criticised Labour-aligned media for failing to report his comments after Monday’s parliamentary sitting.

In a statement reacting to Borg's decision, the Labour Party said Borg has been benefitting from such increases ever since he became a member of parliament. "If he truly had an issue with them, he would have spoken up about it from the moment he was elected by the people."

The party pointed out that his MPs will be receiving the same percentage increases next year too. 

"The only salary increase that ministers ever gave themselves was under a Nationalist government. In fact, at a time when it was asking families to make sacrifices, the Nationalist government awarded itself an extra €500 per week."