Nationalist Party (PN) leader Adrian Delia has insisted that the party was prioritising the needs of the public when it changed its stance on the proposed legislative amendments on MPs’ pensions, and that this decision was not based on political expediency.

Last week the government presented amendments that would have seen MPs 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, only for the PN to withdraw its consensus on Monday evening, leading to the government withdrawing the proposal.

Delia was asked by The Malta Independent, whether the PN parliamentary group’s swift turnabout was a result of political convenience.

“The PN’s position on pensions is clear; we must put people first. We are here to serve and the PN, hearing what the people had said, acted. Irrespective of the bill, at the moment our absolute priority should be to help those who are struggling to make ends meet,” Delia replied.

Partit Demokratiku (PD) spearheaded opposition to the proposal, which culminated in a parliamentary petition calling for a debate on pension reform prior to any changes being made to MPs’ pensions. In a statement, the PD said that “having exposed the collusion between the PN and the PL in previous days, the PD has veritably checkmated this motion and is thus declaring a victory for the Maltese people.”

The PN later called for the debate to be suspended. Reacting to the PN announcement, 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.