Nationalist MP is briefed to prepare legal groundwork

Nationalist MP Franco Debono was entrusted by the Prime Minister more than two months ago to prepare the legal groundwork for a new law regulating political party financing, The Times has learnt.

This week, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said the government was committed to introduce such a law before the next general election.

According to Dr Debono, who was appointed parliamentary assistant at the Office of the Prime Minister earlier this year, transparency and disclosure of donors were the two crucial issues at stake.

“The law should set a threshold above which donors’ identity would have to be revealed,” he said, insisting the disclosure of donors who gave very small amounts of money could give rise to issues as to the right of privacy and association.

The three major political parties had divergent views on the threshold above which the names of donors would be made public when party financing was discussed by the Galdes Commission in 1995.

The majority of members on the commission had agreed that the identity of donors giving more than €11,647 would have to be made public while donations above €23,294 would be illegal. This was the same position adopted by the Labour Party.

Alternattiva Demokratika had suggested disclosure be made for donations above €1,165 and capping the legal limit at €2,329.

The Nationalist Party at the time had proposed higher thresholds, insisting only donations above €23,294 would have to be disclosed and making donations above €46,587 illegal.

However, in 2007, Dr Gonzi had said he was not bound to any of the amounts the Galdes Commission had considered, insisting he was open to discussion on the matter.

Despite these differing views, Dr Debono said he was not disheartened. While expressing doubt on the feasibility of a legal capping for donations to be legitimate, he argued the parties should not get stuck on the amount. “We may have differing opinions as to details but I believe a compromise can be reached if we agree in principle. The important thing for our democracy is to have the law in place,” he said.

However, Dr Debono said he was not inclined to favour political party financing by the state. “People are generally against state funding and I would prefer a situation where the system is allowed to work before even considering committing public funds to finance political parties,” he said, admitting that mandatory disclosure could lead to fewer donors prompting an eventual argument in favour of party financing by the state.

Dr Debono said he did not have a timeframe to conclude his work but pointed out that almost a year ago he said such a reform was an urgent matter.

“Taking the Galdes Commission report’s conclusions as a starting point I am reviewing all that has been written and following what is happening in other countries, particularly the UK. I will refer back to the Prime Minister with my findings with the aim of having a law in place before the next election,” he said.