Leader of the House Tonio Borg yesterday would not commit himself to the Budget for 2011 being presented on October 25, as already reported in The Times.
During a sitting of the House Business Committee, Dr Borg would only say that the opposition’s motion on the Malta Council for European and Social Development, MCESD, presented yesterday, would be debated before Budget Day.
Later in the evening, answering a supplementary parliamentary question by Opposition Leader Joseph Muscat in the full sitting, Transport Minister Austin Gatt said that if the opposition wanted to know how much money would be voted in the Budget for the completion of roads, it should wait for the end of October.
During the House Business Committee meeting, Mr Speaker Michael Frendo distributed a booklet commemorating former Deputy Prime Minister, Minister and President of Malta Guido de Marco. He said that henceforth, every MP who passed away would be honoured with such a booklet, which would include a photograph of the MP, his or her first oath of loyalty and the maiden speech or the last speech, even if it meant that preparation of the booklet would delay commemoration in the House by a few days.
Another committee decision was to have a very short discussion, totalling about 30 minutes, on October 11 on a resolution moved by the Prime Minister regarding new seats in the European Parliament. Dr Borg said he wished for Malta, which will have a sixth seat, to be one of the very first EU member states to sign the resolution, and even though the European Union Act did not call for a full House debate, he felt that this should be done, however briefly.
While not specifically objecting, Opposition Whip Joe Mizzi remarked that he did not see the need for such a discussion in the full House, because the MPs on both sides who normally spoke on such issues would already have pronounced themselves in the House European and Foreign Affairs Committee.
The eventual decision to devote only 30 minutes to the resolution was a compromise by both sides.
Slated for October 4 is a one-sitting discussion of a motion by Finance Minister Tonio Fenech on a projected expansion of investment by the International Monetary Fund.
The House will also debate amendments to the Ombudsman Act to cover the appointment of sectorial ombudsmen. Dr Borg said failure to reach agreement in the House would lead to the ombudsmen being appointed by the Ombudsman.
As the last item in the meeting, Speaker Michael Frendo said he had received a copy of the Transport Malta directive on parking for MPs in Valletta, without having been involved in any discussion. He could foresee great difficulties whenever there was a morning sitting of the House, because the directive contemplated reserving morning parking space for MPs only when the House was scheduled to take a vote or votes at the end of a morning sitting.
The committee agreed that the issue was still unresolved and Transport Malta should be approached with a view to achieving a better balance, with the Speaker being fully involved.