Gonzi defends Richard Cachia Caruana's severance package

Opposition leader Lawrence Gonzi this evening defended the severance package for Richard Cachia Caruana, saying people should be judged according to the results they achieved. Earlier Foreign Minister George Vella said that the termination of the contract of Malta's former permanent representative to the EU had cost Malta €239,000 in terminal benefits, including payments for banked leave. Furthermore, in terms of his contract, Mr Cachia Caruana was being paid €5,900 per month for two years. In his reaction, Dr Gonzi said that during his time in Brussels, Mr Cachia Caruana achieved very good results for Malta. Only last January, Malta managed to obtain €1.28 billion, also thanks to Mr Cachia Caruana's work Dr Gonzi said that judgement of a person should be based on results, and Mr Cachia Caruana's contract included global emoluments similar to that of ambassadors, and transition termination benefits as were given to members of ministerial secretariats. EU REPORT Dr Gonzi welcomed the European Union’s economic monitoring report on Malta, published this morning. He said he could not end the Budget debate with a better certificate to the former government than the report’s observation...