The Party Funding Bill was given unanimous backing in the final vote in Parliament this afternoon, but Opposition leader Simon Busuttil said the PN still had reservations about it.

In a brief statement before the vote was taken in Parliament, Dr Busuttil said the Opposition had been very active in the committee debate on the bill to ensure, as far as possible, that the new law would be effective and with a high level of transparency.

Amont the points raised by the Opposition and accepted by the government, where provisions that political parties should be subject to international standards of accounting and auditing; that parties cannot accept donations from companies somehow controlled by the government; that the parties cannot accept donations from entities, foundations, trusts and nominees whose beneficiaries were not known; that donations in excess of €7,000 must be recorded online and not only reported to the Electoral Commission; and that donations from individuals must be capped at €25,000 rather than €40,000 as proposed by the government.

Dr Busuttil regretted that the government had not accepted other proposals, such as a €2 million cap on spending by the political parties in electoral campaigns.

The Opposition was also against the Electoral Commission being the regulator in party funding matters since the commission was dominated by the parties.

The Opposition would also have liked the new law to address the anomaly where the Labour Party had a substantial financial advantage in that it was making use of many properties which were actually owned by the government or had been requisitioned by the government and handed to the Labour Party. The government, however, had rejected the calls for a level playing field.

The PN was considering legal action to address these anomalies, Dr Busuttil said. 

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said the government in 30 months had done what the former government had not done in 25 years. The law had to be seen in the context also of laws which removed prescription in corruption cases involving politicians, and the Whistleblower Act.

Dr Muscat said the new party funding law was a development on a bill originally proposed in the past legislature by Franco Debono, The disagreements were few.

The disagreement on the electoral campaign spending cap was logical. The law made in incumbent on the parties to record the donations they received  from where and how, but then it was up to the parties to spend their money as they wished. Dr Busuttil's argument would have made sense if political parties were funded by taxpayers. In time, if that happened, one could revisit the capping proposal once more.

Dr Muscat said the government felt the Electoral Commission should be the regulator. It was trusted in the elections, the most delicate moment in Democratic life, so why not on party funding? 

As for the advantage enjoyed by the PL through use of properties, Dr Muscat it did not seem to have an advantage in that it was in opposition for 25 years. The PN was also using properties owned by the government, Furthermore, the Attorney General had said these properties could not be seen within the parameters of party funding. 

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