The Opposition will be presenting an “important” amendment to the Financing of Political Parties Bill, which would require each political party to declare in detail the number of properties it held on public land, either leased or rented, and how much rent had been paid during that year.
Each party would need to give a summary of what revenue it had received from the renting of bars, restaurants and shops on that public property and any revenue from activities which had taken place there, PN secretary general Chris Said told Parliament last night.
The Bill, he said, did not address this matter and the PN would be contesting this political discrimination.
Compiling what each party received would enable a comparison to be made and compensation would be given to the disadvantaged parties.
In this way a level playing field would be created.
As things stood, one party was receiving thousands, if not millions, of euros while the others were getting little or nothing at all.
The Bill also needed to review how much each party had earned over the past 30 years.
Before Parliament rose for the summer recess, Dr Said had appealed to the PL to give back the property “it had taken”, so that it could be put to public use.
Every time Labour was in government it had lined its pockets with public and private land: 22 of its clubs were on public property, while six were on requisitioned private property.
The Rabat Labour Party club had once been intended to be turned into a public library and that in Gudja a government clinic.
As things stood, one party was receiving thousands, if not millions, of euros, while the others were getting little or nothing at all
With regard to the club in Victoria, which Dr Said termed a prime site, a Labour government evicted the department of agriculture.
The PL paid a pittance in rent for many of these properties.
Turning to the requisitioning of private land, Dr Said said this was even worse simply because it was done “on false presences”.
A Labour government had always lined the pockets of the Labour Party, as had happened with Australia Hall, which was one of the first decisions taken by Joseph Muscat as Prime Minister.
While it was true that the PN still had a lot of debt on its own headquarters, the PL’s radio and TV station had been built on public land.
As if this was not enough, another part of the adjoining factory was now going to be taken so further expansion could take place.
Political parties should be competing on a level playing field but it appeared the PL had no intention of putting them on the same footing.
When this law comes into force next January, the parties would not be departing from the same starting point.
Labour would continue to benefit from these properties, some dating back 30 and 40 years, because the value of the land had increased in that time, Chris Said said.
Paula Mifsud Bonnici (PN) said that Opposition was proposing that the commission scrutinising the financing of the parties would not be the Chief Electoral Commissioner.
This would make operations much more transparent and boost democracy.