Nationalist Party leader Simon Busuttil yesterday presented its good governance document to social partners, pledging to clean up politics once and for all and draw a line under past malpractices.
Dr Busuttil said that through its 109 proposals, the PN was not simply criticising the many scandals the government has been embroiled in but was making its own proposals and restoring faith in the political class.
He referred to a recent eurobarometer survey which found that 81 per cent of businesses in Malta felt that corruption was “widespread”. Almost 70 per cent said that the use of a political contact was the easiest way of obtaining a public service.
Moreover, half the businesses questioned said that they were missing out on government contracts because of corruption.
Scandinavian countries are known to have the cleanest political sphere. If they do it, why can’t we?
“These figures are very worrying. We want to clean up politics once and for all, we are not just pointing fingers at individuals but looking at a collective effort of political parties and social partners,” he said.
He said the document drew a distinction from the practices of past administrations “because we were in government and we’ve made mistakes”. But the document was making proposals, some of them radical, because the party was looking at the present and to the future.
Referring to the latest political developments, Dr Busuttil said that one of the lessons to be learnt was the importance of autonomous and independent institutions.
Scandinavian countries are known to have the cleanest political sphere. If they do it, why can’t we, he asked.
In a presentation, PN spokesperson for Social Dialogue Clyde Puli said the party was presenting the rules of the political game which should not just be about political parties but involve society as a whole.
He said one of the proposals being made was that the government should only sit as an observer on the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development. It was also proposing the abolition of criminal libel.