Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said this morning that in the issue of state funding of political parties, the Labour Party was more interested in how much of taxpayers' money would go to the parties, rather than transparency.
Giving his reaction to an article written in The Times last week by Nationalist MP Franco Debono, who called for action on party funding legislation, Dr Gonzi said this was 'a very good article'.
He recalled that early in this legislature, he wrote to the Opposition proposing a number of measures to strengthen democracy. The proposals included party funding and transparency.
It was subsequently agreed that the issue would be discussed in a parliamentary select committee.
It had resulted, Dr Gonzi said, that rather than transparency the emphasis of the PL was on how much of the people’s taxes would go to the political parties.
Dr Gonzi said the PL preached a lot, but the people should not forget how, soon after the Smart City project was announced, the PL took a queue of Maltese contractors to Dubai. Did they make a donation to the party?
Dr Gonzi said he would have liked to see more progress on the issue of party funding, but cooperation was needed from the PL. In the two years since Joseph Muscat became Labour leader, he had found no cooperation on any initiative, including the presidency, Dr Gonzi said.
What he had seen was 'no' to everything and doubts cast everywhere.
PL REACTION
The PL in a reaction said the PN was only interested in continuing to receive donations from contractors, especially those who won government contracts.
Ultimately it was taxpayers who were paying, even through corruption.
The PL said it was the only major political party which published its financial results. The PN never did so.
The PL also noted that Joseph Muscat had offered the hand of friendship with regard to ST, the dockyard and parliamentary democracy and made proposals on jobs, the fight against corruption, and inflation.
But Dr Gonzi had refused these offers.
See also
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20100908/local/franco-debono-insists-on-action-on-party-funding-legislation