Labour's proposal to give the chairman of the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development the rank of a minister, allowing him to attend certain Cabinet meetings, was received well by the social partners.
The director-general of the Malta Employer's Association, Joe Farrugia, said the proposal should certainly not be written off as being out of hand. "We obviously still have to discuss it but it's an interesting proposal." His comment echoes that of other representatives of constituted bodies who spoke to The Times.
Vince Farrugia, director-general of the Chamber for Small and Medium Enterprises - GRTU said: "I think it is very positive that Labour has taken the plunge and actually proposed something to make the MCESD more effective. It doesn't mean we will be agreeing with the proposal but it's definitively something to be considered".
He said the GRTU had actually proposed something similar when John Dalli had resigned as a minister. "We had proposed Mr Dalli because we believed in his capabilities and because, in the circumstances, he had become available."
Labour leader Alfred Sant launched the idea on Wednesday as part of a plan to strengthen the MCESD, which has, in the past, been described by some quarters as a talking shop. There has also been debate as to whether the MCESD should be a consultative body or have executive powers.
Mr Farrugia believes the council should retain its consultative role. Thus, having its chairman sit on the Cabinet when issues affecting the MCESD are being discussed could be seen to contrast with a body whose main function is that of a consultative body.
"We had even opposed the introduction of a voting system. In the national interest, the government may decide to take the advice of one of the members against that of the rest of the council," he said, adding that if the MCESD becomes involved in policy implementation it would jeopardise its role as an independent consultative body.
The general secretary of the General Workers' Union, Tony Zarb said the proposal was a positive one, adding that it still had to be discussed within the union. "Over and above the position of the chairman, however, we had made a number of proposals to reform the MCESD overall and we would like to be discussing that sort of reform."
His counterpart at the Union Haddiema Maghqudin, Gejtu Vella, also said his union would need to discuss the matter. He said he wanted to understand how the mechanism would work in practice.
When announcing the proposal during a meeting with the constituted bodies, Dr Sant said the chairman would be given the rank of a Cabinet minister. The party's general secretary, Jason Micallef, later clarified that this would entail the MCESD chairman having the right to attend Cabinet meetings when these are connected to the council's business.
On this point, Mr Vella said the council's business is so wide it is very hard to say which issue would not fall within its remit. "Does this mean he'll always attend Cabinet meetings and what about the confidentiality of what is discussed there? Will he have to withhold the information from the MCESD?"