Alternattiva Demokratika yesterday questioned why MEPs Simon Busuttil and Louis Grech were given €20,000 from the Good Causes Fund to organise Malta Week in the European Parliament.

It said NGOs had in the past been denied access to such funds on the premise that they were political, yet the same fund did not have trouble granting its limited funds to politicians who already had access to funding for their events.

“AD is hereby asking on what grounds funds are given to some but denied to others,” party chairman Michael Briguglio said.

Mr Briguglio said it was ironic that while the Finance Ministry used taxpayers’ money to give to politicians of its choice, Malta still lacked a proper party financing system.

Malta had a free-for-all system where donations to political parties were concerned, and it was more than obvious that this had resulted in a system of political favours, Mr Briguglio said.

Meanwhile, the government granted funds, to the tune of €100,000 each a year, to the Nationalist and Labour parties, but excluded AD, he said.