PN administrations did not increase pensions for 22 consecutive years.
The substantive point holds. PN governments (1987-96, 1998-2013) did not embed annual discretionary above-COLA pension increases — the kind PL has put in every budget since 2014. The technical caveat: COLA was applied every year by automatic formula, so nominal pensions did rise mechanically. But the political claim — that for ~22 years pensioners didn't see deliberate, headlined budget pension boosts — matches the budget-by-budget record.
The substantive point holds. PN governments (1987-96, 1998-2013) did not embed annual discretionary above-COLA pension increases — the kind PL has put in every budget since 2014. The technical caveat: COLA was applied every year by automatic formula, so nominal pensions did rise mechanically. But the political claim — that for ~22 years pensioners didn't see deliberate, headlined budget pension boosts — matches the budget-by-budget record.
We tested Falzon's claim against the actual Maltese Budget Diskorsi delivered by PN Finance Ministers across 1998-2012 (Diskorsi tal-Baġit 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012 plus 1998-2003 parliamentary Budget records), the 2007 Pensions Reform Act (Act XIX of 2006), and Department of Social Security pension-rate archives. The methodological question splits in two: did PN-era Budgets contain above-COLA discretionary pension increases of the kind PL has embedded since 2014, and was even the COLA itself applied in full to pensioners during the PN period.
Verdict lands at Mostly True because the PN budget speeches confirm both points sharply. The Budget Diskors 2005 says pensioners received 'two-thirds of this [COLA] amount' as a continuation of past practice, and the Budget Diskors 2008 explicitly announces the switch from two-thirds to full COLA starting January 2008 — so for 1998-2007 pensions rose by less than the cost of living, not above it. Above-COLA across-the-board pension rate increases were absent across the period; targeted measures (service-pension widening from Budget 2008, €300 grant for 80+ in Budget 2012, widow's pension reform 2007) helped specific sub-cohorts. The deep-dive lays out the direct quotes; this editorial note is methodology only.
Did PN administrations really not increase pensions for 22 years
Tested against the actual PN Budget Diskorsi 1998-2012 plus the 2007 Pensions Reform Act and Department of Social Security pension-rate archives. Falzon's claim has two distinct parts that need testing separately: that PN didn't even give full COLA to pensioners for most of the period, and that PN never gave across-the-board pension rate increases above COLA. The budget-document record supports the first half clearly. The second half is broadly supported with caveats — PN did give some above-COLA measures, but they were targeted, one-off, or sub-cohort-specific rather than the routine across-the-board permanent uplift PL has run every Budget since 2014.
Part 1: Pensioners received only two-thirds of the COLA workers received, 1998-2007
The Diskorsi tal-Baġit document this explicitly.
Diskors tal-Baġit 2005 (delivered November 2004):
"Bħal fis-snin mgħoddija l-pensjonanti kollha ser jibbenefikaw miż-żieda ta' żewġ terzi ta' dan l-ammont."
Translation: "As in past years, all pensioners will benefit from two-thirds of this [COLA] amount." Worker COLA was Lm1.75/week; pensioners received approximately Lm1.17/week.
Diskors tal-Baġit 2006 (delivered November 2005):
"iż-żieda tal-pensjonanti għall-għoli tal-ħajja ta' Lm1.67 fil-ġimgħa."
Worker COLA was Lm2.25/week. Pensioners received Lm1.67/week — two-thirds of the Lm1.75 base (Lm1.17) plus the full Lm0.50 utility-compensation supplement. The two-thirds rule on the base COLA continued.
Diskors tal-Baġit 2008 (delivered November 2007) — the explicit admission:
"Mill-1 ta' Jannar tal-2008, iż-żieda ta' l-għoli tal-ħajja se tingħata sħiħa lill-pensjonanti kollha. Minħabba l-impatt fuq is-sistema tal-pensjoni taż-żewġ terzi, it-terz li s'issa ma kienx jingħata se jingħata f'forma ta' bonus."
"From 1 January 2008, the cost-of-living increase will be given in full to all pensioners. Because of the impact on the two-thirds pension system, the third that until now was not being given will be given in the form of a bonus." PN's own Finance Minister documents that the two-thirds system had been the rule until end-2007.
Part 2: Above-COLA pension rate increases under PN — what the record shows
The second half of Falzon's claim — that nothing was given beyond COLA — needs more careful testing. The budget-document record shows PN did give some above-COLA measures, but they fall into three categories distinct from the routine across-the-board permanent pension rate increase pattern PL has run since 2014.
(a) One-off compensation bonuses. Budget 2004 (delivered November 2003) provided a 75c/week bonus (Lm39/year) to all pensioners and workers in March 2004, plus an additional 25c/week (Lm13/year) for supplementary-allowance recipients. The Diskors framed these as compensation for cost-of-living impact not yet captured in the COLA formula:
"Biex intaffu l-effett matul l-2004, se jingħata bonus speċjali mill-gvern ta' 75c fil-ġimgħa jew Lm39 għal sena, li jitħallas lill-pensjonanti u lill-ħaddiema kollha f'Marzu, 2004."
A one-off cost-of-living-impact bonus, not a permanent pension rate increase. Workers received the same.
(b) Targeted sub-cohort measures. Several PN Budgets included rate increases or eligibility-widening for specific cohorts of pensioner:
- Budget 2007 — widow's-pension flat-rate provision for working widows; severe-disability pension marriage reform.
- Budget 2008 — €200 service-pension calculation widening (cohort receiving both state and service pensions).
- Budget 2009-2011 — continued service-pension widening; pensioner-work allowances.
- Budget 2012 — new €300/year grant for pensioners aged 80+ (~12,000 beneficiaries); additional €200 service-pension widening.
These are real improvements for the affected cohorts — particularly the 80+ grant in 2012, which represents an above-COLA pension increase for a defined slice of pensioners. They are not the across-the-board minimum-pension rate increase pattern.
(c) The 2008 "missing third" bonus. When PN switched from two-thirds to full COLA in January 2008, the missing third was paid back as a bonus. Strictly this looks above-COLA — but it was righting a prior shortfall, not an uplift on top of fair COLA.
What is missing from the PN record. A routine, across-the-board, permanent pension rate increase added on top of full COLA, in every annual Budget. That is the PL pattern from Budget 2014 onwards. Across the PN period (1998-2012 in the documented record, and the broader 1987-96 + 1998-2013 PN tenure Falzon invokes), this pattern does not appear in the Diskorsi tal-Baġit.
What PL has done since 2014
From Budget 2014 onwards, every PL Budget has included at least one above-COLA pension-boosting measure across-the-board: flat-amount weekly pension increases (€3-€10/week) added on top of COLA, supplementary-allowance restructurings, progressive equalisation of pre-1962 pensioners, expanded widow's-pension framework, restored Class 1/2 service pensions (companion #304), annual lump-sum bonus payments. Cumulatively the minimum-pension cohort has seen approximately €80/week in above-COLA increases across 11 consecutive Budget cycles (companion #213).
The contrast Falzon is drawing — that PL's routine above-COLA pension boost in every Budget is something new — is supported by the documentary record. PN's record across the same window is a mix of partial COLA application, occasional one-off bonuses, and targeted sub-cohort measures, with no routine across-the-board permanent pension rate increase pattern.
So is the claim accurate?
Mostly. Falzon's "22 years no pension increase" is rhetorical compression — COLA did apply throughout (and PN did give some targeted above-COLA measures: the Lm39 one-off bonus in 2004, the €300/year 80+ grant in Budget 2012, several service-pension widenings, widow's and disability reforms). What the documentary record does not show under PN is the routine across-the-board permanent pension rate increase that PL has run every Budget since 2014. The political contrast Falzon is making — that PL's annual pension boosts beyond COLA are genuinely new and absent from the PN record at the across-the-board level — is supported.
Verdict: Mostly true.