PM calls urgent Cabinet and parliamentary group meeting to decide on honoraria

Updated at 12:48pm

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi is reportedly backtracking on the salary raise paid to his ministers, by scaling back the MPs' honorarium he gave Cabinet ministers from 70% of the civil service's Scale 1 salary, to the 50% that all MPs are being paid.

While ministers will still be paid their honoraria as MPs, something never officially announced and in force since May 2008, they will not be paid a higher honoraria if Gonzi backtracks.

It will also be a remarkable victory for Jean-Pierre Farrugia, the backbencher who challenged the party by claiming he would vote down any legislative bill to sanction the salary raise.

Nationalist MP Jean-Pierre Farrugia said his meeting with the Prime Minister yesterday evening was “very cordial” and that Lawrence Gonzi told him he would strive to “re-engage with the people”, in shorts comments he gave to the press upon entering the PN headquarters this afternoon.

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi has convened an urgent parliamentary group meeting at noon at the Nationalist headquarters, which was preceded by an emergency Cabinet meeting at Castille.

The agenda of the meetings will be taken up by the increase in honoraria to ministers, who have been paid an additional €26,000 a year in the form of an MP's honorarium - while their backbencher colleagues were paid just €19,000. The increment has led to widespread revulsion from the public after surprise increases in fuel and gas prices.

The MP honoraria saga was the focus of an urgent meeting held at the Nationalist HQ between Lawrence Gonzi and backbencher Jean Pierre Farrugia on Tuesday evening. The meeting was described as very tense.

Two press conferences by ministers Dolores Cristina and Tonio Fenech were this morning cancelled due to the emergency cabinet meeting.