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maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 5 JUNE 2019 3 NEWS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Sammut has now told The Malta Independent that Adrian Delia should not ask for a vote of confidence but immediately resign, taking his team with him. He said that secretary-general Clyde Puli, the two deputy lead- ers David Agius and Robert Ar- rigo, and the party's media chair- man Pierre Portelli and political coordinator Jean Pierre Debono should also go. Sammut said he did not mean that Delia and Puli are "disposa- ble" – "they could definitely have a role in the party. But neither they, nor I, or any of the people who are often referred to as be- longing to some form of plot are the solution for the party to unite and move forward." Sammut insisted that there was need for new blood that was ca- pable of uniting and leading the party, and there was no other choice but for the PN to have a new leader going into the next general elections. "First there must be the space and the liberty for others to come forward. Be- fore I took this step, I took note that there is someone ready to fill this space, or else I would not have made that call." Sammut resigned last Satur- day by way of taking responsi- bility for the PN's drubbing at the European and local council elections, after the PN executive voted by 42 votes to 40 to co- opt former MP and Delia's chief political advisor, Jean Pierre Debono, to the seat vacated by Gozo MP David Stellini. He later cried foul at the vot- ing procedure that took place, saying that neither David Stel- lini – the Gozo MP who vacated his parliamentary seat earlier in the week – nor treasurer David Camilleri were entitled to vote for the co-option. He accused Jean Pierre Debono of having had access to the list of eligible voters for the executive commit- tee meeting, implicating him in wrongdoing. In the aftermath of the vote, Camilleri said he was resigning from his post with immediate ef- fect while pushing back against a number of claims being made about Saturday's proceedings. Similarly, in a letter to PN lead- er Adrian Delia, which was pub- lished by the Nationalist Party on Monday, Debono rejected claims he had attempted to ma- nipulate the vote, saying how- ever that would not be taking his oath as MP. "It is today clearer than ever be- fore that the same group of peo- ple that did not accept the dem- ocratic result of your election as leader of the party are today engaged in a ruthless campaign to attack and discredit me per- sonally, because of the fact that I gave up my seat in parliament for you to become leader of the Opposition," Debono told Delia. Debono denied claims that he had in any way manipulated the list of eligible voters before Sat- urday's vote, insisting that both Kevin Cutajar and himself had full copy of the list and had not objected to it. Turning to the eligibility of PN treasurer David Camilleri, Debono said that he had been listed as eligible for months and "as far as I know there was never any notification from the president of the execu- tive for his vote to be removed". Sammut, he stressed, had called out each member during the vote, with no objections having been raised. Former PN executive president Mark Anthony Sammut: Delia must move out CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 This means that minimum wage earners in Malta pay the sixth low- est tax rate among the 22 surveyed countries. In Belgium, minimum wage earners pay a paltry 4.25% in taxes and social security contributions, while Lithua- nian workers on the minimum wage have 39.5% shaved off in taxes. Malta is considered to have a me- dium minimum wage rate alongside Portugal, Spain, Greece and Slove- nia. All these countries saw mini- mum wage increases, with the low- est being in Malta and the highest in Spain at a significant 22%. Countries with the highest mini- mum wage rates tended to have more modest increases, ranging from around 2% in France, Belgium, Netherlands and Ireland, to 3.6% in Luxembourg and 4% in Germany. The minimum wage in Malta, like all other wages, increases annually with the Cost Of Living Adjustment (COLA). An agreement between the government, employers and union reached in 2017 included a top up to the minimum wage for 2018 and 2019. It also introduced the con- cept that nobody should stay on the minimum wage for more than a year, stipulating the rate of increase. According to Eurofound, only 2.3% of workers in Malta earned the mini- mum wage, one of the lowest rates across the EU. DAVID HUDSON ALEKSANDAR Gochev, a Macedonian who is resident in Malta, was sentenced to seven months' imprisonment suspended for a year for breaking into an apartment with the pur- pose of stealing. On 3 June at around 10am, Gochev, 31, broke into one of the apartments in Sunrise Court in St Paul's Bay with the express pur- pose of stealing. He was intercepted by the owner who in- formed the police. The accused, when charged in court for damaging the items of the plaintiff, attempt- ed theft and breaking and entering, pleaded guilty and said that he was willing to pay €200 in damages to the owner of the flat. The prosecution, led by Inspector Godwin Scerri, informed the court that Gochev had collaborated with the police and that a sus- pended sentence would be the most appro- priate sentence in these types of cases. "In view of the early guilty plea, the collab- oration with the police, and his willingness to pay, the court declares the accused guilty but sentences him to seven months impris- onment suspended for one year," the court said. Josette Sultana was defence counsel. Gabri- ella Vella was the presiding magistrate. Suspended sentence for breaking into St Paul's Bay apartment Survey: Minimum wage earners in Malta pay the sixth lowest tax rate Top five 1. Luxembourg – €2,071.10 2. UK – €1,746.73 3. Ireland – €1,656.20 4. Netherlands – 1,615.80 5. Belgium – €1,593.76 10. Malta – €761.97 Bottom five 18. Croatia – €505.90 19. Hungary – €464.20 20. Romania – €446.02 21. Latvia – €430 22. Bulgaria – €286.33 Monthly minimum wages Source: Eurofound annual minimum wage review 2019 At €2,071.10, Luxembourg has the highest minimum wage

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