Financial reporting requirements came under the spotlight this afternoon when the House Committee for the Consolidation of laws resumed its discussion on a proposed party funding law, prepared by its chairman, Franco Debono.
At the opening of the discussion, Dr Debono insisted that there should be no distinction between donors who were members or non-members of the political parties because this could be a way to bypass control. Such a proposal, he said, was unacceptable to Greco, the Council of Europe Committee which oversees party funding legislation.
REGULATOR
Carmel Cacopardo, representing Alternattiva Demokratika said he disagreed that it should be the Electoral Commission that should regulate party funding. AD felt it should be an officer answerable to parliament in the same way as the Auditor-General or the Ombudsman. The Office should also be based in parliament. One reason for this proposal, Mr Cacopardo said, was that the Electoral Commission was composed of members nominated by the political parties.
Dr Debono said that abroad the regulator was the Speaker or the Electoral Commission.
Secondly, Mr Cacopardo said, he viewed the bill as introducing over-regulation, such as what constituted a political party and what structure it should have.
OVER-REGULATION
Former PL general secretary Jimmy Magro agreed that the law would bring in over-regulation. The Bill went into far too much detail on what constituted a party and how it should be composed. This was unnecessary.
Furthermore, it was unclear in the distinction it made between the political parties and candidates.
Francis Zammit Dimech (PN) said parties should remain free to regulate their internal affairs as long as there were clearly designated posts for financial reporting requirements.
Dr Debono said candidates and parties had to be seen in the same context for reporting requirements. Candidates and committees were being obliged to report donations to their parties. Otherwise people would try to avoid party funding rules by making their donations through candidates or district committees.
PL President Stefan Zrinzo Azzopardi said he agreed with transparency but once there was opposition to state funding of political parties, one should be careful not to raise administration costs for the parties through extensive reporting requirements. If, according to the Electoral Law, candidates were viewed as individuals, separate from the parties, it should be up to the candidates, not the parties, to report their own receipts and spending.
Mr Magro said that some MPs and candidates were given government appointments or contracts as a way how donations were made to them. These appointments should be listed in a register.
Lawyer Adrian Delia said a section of the Bill covered such consultancies and related work.
Mr Magro said politics was not just about political parties and included lobby groups. Under this bill, people could opt not to register, build a war chest before declaring a political party and a candidacy.
Dr Debono said an essential element of a political party, as against a lobby group, was that parties presented electoral candidates.
Mr Magro said all organisations of a political nature should be regulated.
Dr Debono disagreed that groups which did not intend to stand for elections should be regulated by this law.
Dr Delia said parties which were not registered with the Electoral Commission would not be able to field candidates.
Dr Zrinzo Azzopardi reiterated that candidates should be obliged to make their own reporting of donations and spending, not their parties.
He asked if this bill was the government's position or a private initiative.
Dr Zammit Dimech said this was a private bill by Dr Debono, which the government could eventually adopt.
He agreed with the distinction being made between political parties and lobby groups but said that individuals who became candidates even without political party backing, had to be regulated.
Paul Borg Olivier, General Secretary of the Nationalist Party said there were no provisions in the proposed bill to regulate independent candidates. Would independent candidates have to be registered as political parties under the provisions of this Bill?
Dr Debono said the General Elections Act applied.
Dr Borg Olivier said that meant that independent candidates would not be regulated under the Party Funding law.
Dr Debono admitted this was a vacuum which needed to be discussed.
Mr Cacopardo said there were several instances in local and EP election, in particular, where independent candidates contested elections. Furthermore there were candidates who stood as candidates representing band clubs or the hunting federation, for example. Would this no longer be possible?
Would (non-political) societies be able to back candidates, and what impact would this have on financial reporting requirements?
Dr Delia said there were other laws which regulated independent candidates in raising funds and funds they could not raise funds under false pretences. People could not raise funds for an electoral campaign without declaring their proper purpose.The General Elections Act also regulated spending by all candidates.
Furthermore, the Bill being discussed by the committee was aimed at regulating party funding.
Mr Cacopardo said the purpose should be to regulate the funding of politics, not just political parties.
Near the end of today's meeting, the point was raised once more that the bill was too detailed on what constituted political parties, with speakers from both sides saying such a Bill such as this should not involve itself in issues regarding party governance currently regulated by their statues. The bill should only insist that the parties were democratic, that they presented candidates for elections and that they accounted for donations.
Concluding the discussion, Dr Debono said that it appeared that this draft had formed a good basis for discussion and the final draft to be presented to parliament could therefore include changes according to what had been discussed.
The committee then adjourned to a future date.