MP Francis Zammit Dimech has proposed that the government and Opposition appoint a common audit company to list and evaluate all the properties held by political parties which originate from government sources.
Speaking in Parliament last night during the debate on the party financing Bill, he said the evaluation would go a long way towards establishing a level playing field between the parties and consequently in safeguarding human rights.
He listed a number of government and requisitioned properties currently held by the Labour Party.
Speaking at length on documents published by the Council of Europe and other European institutions, Dr Zammit Dimech said these provided very stringent recommendations on the regulation of party financing.
The basic principles included an affirmation of transparency and full respect for human rights such as freedom of association and holding a political opinion without fearing discrimination.
These principles could not be safeguarded if the bill did not ensure a level playing field for all parties, he said.
It was regrettable that the government had dismissed the Opposition’s proposals to this end, by stating that the proposals stemmed from the PN’s current financial problems.
The law needed to ensure that no one was donating to party stations with the aim of influencing the party’s policies
The Bill would not solve the PN’s financial issues since it would regulate for the future and not the past.
Referring to the speech by Minister Evarist Bartolo, Dr Zammit Dimech agreed that party media were the biggest drain on party financing.
Earlier, Mr Bartolo said that party financing had a direct impact on broadcasting in Malta since the media constituted the parties’ major drain.
Resuming his speech on the Bill, Mr Bartolo said that party finances should be used for policy development and not for media activity. The law needed to ensure that no one was donating to party stations with the aim of influencing the party’s policies, so a law on transparent party financing needed to be made in conjunction with changes in the broadcasting scene.
Malta had reached a cross-roads in its media development. Even independent media were dependent on the commercial and business interests of their owners.
This discussion would necessarily involve a re-evaluation of the role, structure and management of the Public Broadcasting Service which, while at present independent of government, still retained a structure open to government intervention.
Malta needed to learn from developments which had taken place in other countries to ensure the full editorial independence of all media houses, including the public service broadcaster.
The country, said Mr Bartolo, needed to decide whether it wanted a mixture of public and private financing for its parties, or whether taxpayers should be asked to contribute according to the number of votes a party obtained.
This issue would be important for small parties which did not manage to obtain a national quota, placing them at a disadvantage.
Another option would be to have only public financing. He observed that the PN was now changing its own principles because of its financial problems, because in the past, it used to be against party financing. He believed that political parties should not depend solely on private enterprise for their funding because this could lead to potential abuse.