The Labour Party has not excluded returning to the Parliamentary Committee on Democracy, saying it was hoping for “goodwill to set the ball rolling”.

The Nationalist Party said there was an urgent need to have this committee in operation as it had to continue discussing “very important” issues. It said it had long been insisting on the need to reactivate the committee.

The parties were yesterday asked to react to an appeal made by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Michael Frendo, during the official Sette Giugno – the June 7, 1919 bread riot – celebrations on Tuesday, when he called for the reactivation of the “abandoned” parliamentary committee.

The opposition walked out of the committee in protest in March last year following claims by government MPs about how some Labour MPs, particularly Justyne Caruana, had voted during a debate on the power station extension. The opposition had demanded an apology from the government, which never came. It had also protested over a ruling handed down by Dr Frendo on the issue. This led Labour MP Carmelo Abela to resign as Deputy Speaker.

The committee, which has since been inactive, was set up in 2008 and was tasked with discussing a number of sensitive issues such as political party financing, the electoral system, strengthening Parliament’s resources and laws ensuring MPs steered clear of conflicts of interest.

While thanking the Speaker for his appeal, the Labour Party said: “At this point we hope there will be a sign of goodwill that would set the ball rolling”, without spelling out what this sign could be.

On its part, the PN said it “fully agreed” with the Speaker’s appeal for the reactivation of the democracy committee, on which it had been insisting for months.

“Unfortunately, it was Labour that walked out of this very important committee. The issues before this committee are of utmost importance, thus the urgent need for this committee to be reactivated immediately,” a spokesman said when contacted.