Parliamentary rules will soon be amended to allow a Government backbencher to become leader of the House of Representatives, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat announced yesterday.

Dr Muscat also said that the Government had reached out to some Nationalist MPs to see if they felt comfortable contributing through executive roles.

The twin announcements were made during a courtesy visit that outgoing parliamentary speaker Michael Frendo paid on the Prime Minister, following a similar visit to President George Abela earlier yesterday morning (see box). Dr Muscat said that he was committed to making Parliament fully autonomous of other branches of government by the end of the legislature, which was something Dr Frendo had also spoken about.

Under current rules, the parliamentary leader – a role currently being filled by deputy Prime Minister Louis Grech – must also be a member of Cabinet.

This legislature’s House leader would face “a very tall order” in reforming parliamentary attendance, payment and autonomy structures, Dr Muscat said.

Earlier in the day, the PL parliamentary group had announced that it would be nominating former PL deputy leader Anġlu Farrugia as Speaker. Dr Farrugia’s appointment has already been criticised by the Nationalist Party, and yesterday Opposition leader Lawrence Gonzi sardonically noted that he had only gotten to know about the decision through the media.

But the Prime Minister batted away criticism that he had not consulted the Opposition before making his choice.

When Dr Frendo and his predecessor Louis Galea had been nominated as speakers by the then-Government, their nominations had been communicated to the Labour Party, which had subsequently backed them, he said.

“It’s now up to the Opposition to decide on its position,” he said. Dr Farrugia’s nomination only requires a simple majority to be passed.

Outgoing Speaker earns praise, new appointment

Outgoing Speaker Michael Frendo has been appointed to sit on the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat.

Dr Frendo will fill the seat vacated by President Emeritus Ugo Mifsud Bonnici, who has asked not to be reappointed due to age considerations.

The Venice Commission is a body made up of constitutional experts from across the Council of Europe’s 47 member states. It provides independent advice on democratic elections, constitutional law and conflict resolution.

A former Nationalist MP and minister, Dr Frendo will retire from public life after a political career spanning a quarter of a century. He had resigned his parliamentary seat to be appointed Speaker in April 2010.

Three days from the end of his tenure, Dr Frendo yesterday paid courtesy visits on the President, Prime Minister and Opposition Leader.

Both Dr Muscat and Opposition leader Lawrence Gonzi praised Dr Frendo for his poise in managing Parliament throughout one of its most turbulent periods.

Dr Muscat noted that while the two did not always see eye-to-eye, they had developed a mutual respect throughout the years. He singled out Dr Frendo’s ideas about parliamentary autonomy and the creation of a parliamentary committee for economic and financial affairs as especially deserving of praise.

Dr Gonzi, a former Speaker himself, said that in resigning his MP seat, Dr Frendo had “answered his country’s call”. He praised the outgoing Speaker for the thoroughness of his rulings, saying that while they might not have pleased everyone, they were always well-reasoned.

Dr Frendo thanked both political leaders for having respected the dignity of Parliament in what was one of the institution’s busiest-ever legislatures.

He noted that in three years as Speaker he had handed down 34 rulings – “it wasn’t as tedious as I thought it might be,” he quipped.