PM calls for talks on party funding

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said yesterday that he will be recommending to the Cabinet that talks be reopened with the Opposition on party financing.

His declaration follows a letter from Nationalist Party general secretary Joe Saliba asking him to set up a parliamentary committee to draw up regulations on party financing.

Mr Saliba said in his letter that the PN would be among the first to make proposals.

Addressing the media yesterday, Dr Gonzi said the people should have more information on party financing so that confidence in the political system would grow, in the interests of the country.

In his letter Mr Saliba said the PN had always promoted the debate on party financing and it believed the time had come for more transparency on the matter.

He said discussions should not remain internal but should be taken to other levels. He pointed out that, although party financing had been discussed before, no agreement had been reached and the time had come for this matter to be concluded once and for all.

Last week Dr Gonzi said he did not have a problem with having a party funding law as long as the other political parties agreed.

Malta is one of only a few European states without legislation that forces political parties to disclose the source of their finances, including donations from big business.

Dr Gonzi said yesterday that, once the issue was discussed in Cabinet, he hoped the Opposition would agree with the proposal for the creation of a parliamentary committee to discuss the matter so that it would contribute to the drawing up of the regulations.

He recalled that, following talks on the issue in the Galdes Commission, set up by then Prime Minister Eddie Fenech Adami in 1995, an agreement had not been reached on the limit of donation amounts.

The commission had proposed that parties cap donations at Lm10,000 and they should declare every individual contribution above Lm5,000. Labour had agreed, but the PN objected, raising the bar for declared donations to Lm10,000 and the capping to Lm20,000.

AD, in contrast, had proposed to lower both to Lm500 and Lm1,000 respectively.

Dr Gonzi said yesterday that as the leader of the Nationalist Party he was not binding himself to any amounts which had been proposed by the commission, but was willing to lower the benchmarks of the donation amounts proposed.

The party, he added, was also willing to publish the accounts of its commercial companies and how the building of the party's headquarters was being financed.

MLP general secretary Jason Micallef told The Times yesterday that as soon as the party received the government's proposal it would discuss the issue internally and announce its decision as soon as possible.

Last week, the MLP's two deputy leaders said they agreed with the need for legislation to regulate party funding.