PN General Secretary Chris Said said today that he viewed the White Paper on Party Financing as having a good basis.
Speaking on TVAM, Dr Said said the PN was in favour of a party financing law and it was former Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi who had asked MP Franco Debono to draft legislation, which, however, was not debated in the House because of the political climate of the time.
He said the new proposed law would be discussed and there were areas where the PN would like to see changes, but the basis of the draft was a good one. It was important that the political parties had the space where to operate, as long as there was transparency and a level playing field.
Carmel Cacopardo, representing Alternattiva Demokratika, voiced concern that the monitoring authority would be the Electoral Commission, which is controlled by the major political parties. He suggested that the role could be assumed by the new Commissioner for Ethics and Standards, who was independent and whose Office was still in the process of being set up, meaning that allowance could be made for the new requirements.
He also argued that the thresholds of the donations which had to be declared were too high.
Parliamentary Secretary Owen Bonnici said the thresholds could be adjusted but the government felt that were based on realism.
The draft provides that donations up to €500 can remain anonymous. Those between €500 and €10,000 have to be registered in the annual statement of accounts of the parties, which would be made public. Donations between €10,000 and €50,000 have to be reported by the parties directly to the Electoral Commission and donations of over €50,000 cannot be accepted. In all cases, the donations are the aggregate figures from the same source per year.
Dr Said said that for as long as he has been PN general secretary he never saw any donation coming close to €50,000.
Asked if there should be state funding of political parties, he said that while the White Paper excluded state funding for now, it was important that there was a level playing field. State funding may not be in strictly monetary terms. He noted that the state had handed over some 15 properties for use by the Labour Party, including many club bars which were rented out, as well as Australia hall.
Dr Bonnici said the PN was in power for almost 25 years and nothing had been done in this sector.
Dr Said noted that abroad, Henley and Partners had reportedly funded political parties. He asked if the same could have happened here in view of the fact that the company would make €200m from the citizenship scheme.
Dr Bonnici denied the claims, and noted reports in the past how senior PN officials had gone on holiday with contractors who were granted government contracts.