Nationalist MPs this evening returned to the House of Representatives and it was business as usual, a day after a walkout following a ruling by the Speaker.
"Our point has been made" a Nationalist MP told timesofmalta.com. The Opposition, however, presented a motion to contest the ruling.
During the confirmation of minutes, Nationalist whip David Agius noted that the walk out was not mentioned.
The Speaker said that was also the case in the past.
Carmelo Abela, for the government side, said however that there was no objection to adding a line about the walk out.
Opposition leader Simon Busuttil yesterday accused the government of trying to gag the Opposition after it raised a privilege complaint following his comments on interference in police investigations into the John Dalli case.
The prime minister denied such interference.
OPPOSITION MOTION
The Opposition motion says that the comments made by the Leader of the Opposition and the political conclusion he reached (about political interference with the Police Commissioner to stop action against John Dalli) was an exercise of the fundamental right of freedom of expression. In this case, it was political expression in the highest institution of the country.
Any attempt by the prime minister to hinder any MP form expressing his judgement or political opinion was therefore an attempt to undermine parliamentary democracy.
Furthermore, in making his privilege complaint the prime minister had not followed the proper procedure as also demanded by Labour MP Joe Mizzi in a motion on March 22, 2006.
The motion therefore called for the Speaker’s ruling to be revised and a report to be made to the House.
TENSION RETURNS
Tension returned when Parliamentary Secretary Owen Bonnici while replying to a question on transparency in Parliament, referred to the €500 a week increase which he said former ministers took secretly.
When Nationalist MPs protested, minister Joe Mizzi said the minister could reply as he wished.
The Speaker asked him to stick to the subject.
Beppe Fenech Adami (PN) asked Dr Bonnici questions on the ministerial declaration of assets including how, he said, a minister had declared he had €500,000 at home from a property transaction, when no such transaction was recorded, how a minister forgot to declare a Brussels account of €120,000 and how another had a loan of €800,000 but declared minimum wage income.
Dr Bonnici said the ministerial declaration of assets was important, but even more important was how, in the past, a minister completely forgot about a Swiss bank account, or how ministers took a pay rise without telling anyone.
Asked about preparation of a new ministerial code of ethics, he said a draft was ready and would be published for consultation in the coming days.