Government, opposition reach pairing agreement

The government and the opposition have reached agreement on pairing and on other measures for the conduct of parliamentary business, the House Business Committee was told at its first meeting of this legislature yesterday.

The Leader of the House, minister Lawrence Gonzi said the pairing agreement would apply when ministers and parliamentary secretaries were abroad on government or parliamentary duty and it would also be applicable in cases of illness.

The deputy leader of the opposition, Charles Mangion said the opposition agreed with pairing but expected reciprocal respect in the House.

Both sides also agreed that when divisions were called, the vote would be taken at the end of the sitting, with the 20 minutes division time being added to the normal sitting time. To date, divisions had been taken as soon as they were called.

It was also agreed that no motion or bill would be debated in the House without the opposition being given at least seven days' notice.

Dr Gonzi said that both sides had agreed to continue discussions with the aim of updating Standing Orders. and they would thus be examining further the proposals made by former President Ugo Mifsud Bonnici.

Notary Mangion said the Labour parliamentary group had set up a sub-committee to discuss changes to the Standing Orders. It would be making formal proposals but in the meantime changes could be discussed informally between the two sides.

Turning to the legislative timetable, Dr Gonzi said that before the summer recess the House needed to debate the ratification of the EU accession treaty, a bill to regulate elections to the European Parliament and another bill on consequential amendments to various laws as a result of the EU treaty.

While the first two bills would be published tomorrow, the other would be published at a later date.

Notary Mangion suggested that the debate on the treaty should start on June 23.

Dr Gonzi said he would have no difficulty starting on the proposed date as long as the debate on all three bills was concluded before the summer recess. He estimated that the House could rise for the summer on July 30, or sooner if those bills were approved earlier.

Notary Mangion said he was sure an arrangement could be reached.

Dr Gonzi said that hopefully, sittings would only be held on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings and no morning sittings would be needed, although they could be added if the agenda so required.

The Speaker, Anton Tabone, pointed out that the House Business Committee also needed to approve the Ombudsplan. It was agreed that this would be debated later this month.

Nationalist MP Mario Galea pointed out that new MPs were not getting the free telephone service.

Dr Gonzi said he would soon be moving a proposal to change the current system so that MPs would receive a financial allowance instead of free stationery and other services such as the telephone.

Until the proposal was discussed and agreed upon, one had to ensure that the new MPs had the service they required.

He would also propose a new allowance to the presidents of the House committees in recognition of their responsibilities and one had to consider the position with regard to the whips of the parliamentary groups.

Mr Galea said the committees also needed better support services. They should at least have a clerk assigned to them, rather than having to make use of clerks who had other duties in the House.

Notary Mangion agreed that ways needed to be found to improve the situation of MPs and the committees, which would be having more work delegated to them.

He said planned new legislation required a certain amount of research and he proposed that arrangements should be reached with established research centres, such as those at the Central Bank, the university and the statistics office.

The government's representatives on the House Business Committee are Dr Gonzi, Mr Galea, Frederick Azzopardi and Joe Falzon (substitute). The opposition's are Notary Mangion and Joe Mizzi. A substitute has not yet been appointed.

The government's representative on the Council of Europe will be Robert Arrigo. Dr Michael Gonzi and Mr Falzon will be substitutes. The opposition's representative will be Joe Debono Grech with Dr John Attard Montalto as substitute.

The government's representatives on the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe will be Dr Jason Azzopardi and Mr Frederick Azzopardi, while the opposition's will be Dr Anglu Farrugia.

The government's permanent representative to the Inter-Parliamentary Union will be Helen D'Amato with Mr Galea as substitute. Dr George Vella will represent the opposition, with Mr Mizzi as substitute.