Some animals more equal than others? Politicians get €2 million a year in privileged pensions

MPs and those who filled important political offices in the past benefit from more than €2 million a year in special pensions under a controversial 1979 law, the Times of Malta has learnt. The newspaper is informed that last year, the Treasury disbursed €2,032,359 in pensions under the Members of Parliament Pensions Act. The law provides for a ‘special’ pension over and above the ‘normal’ benefits falling under the national insurance contributory scheme, which all Maltese citizens are entitled to. The special pension, amounting to an average €22,000 a year, varies from €40,540 for former presidents to a few hundred euros given to the widows of parliamentarians of the 1970s. Former Cabinet ministers received a special pension of €31,866 last year while widows of ex-Cabinet members had a pension exceeding €26,000 a year. It did not matter whether MPs served as ministers for a few months or, say, a decade. The law lays down that only those who sit in Parliament for at least two legislatures qualify for the special pension. Sources pointed out that ex-politicians who received a full special pension as former ministers or parliamentary secretaries also qualified for the minimum...