When the Commissioner for Standards in Public Life, George Hyzler, had his first meeting with the parliamentary committee he reports to, he said he would be looking into concerns raised by the Venice Commission on MPs’ ability to scrutinise the government while also occupying positions on public bodies.
The Venice Commission is the Council of Europe’s advisory body on constitutional matters. The European Commission for Democracy Through Law got its popular name from the fact that the independent constitutional experts that sit on it meet in Venice. Their role is to provide legal advice to member states and assist those wishing to bring their legal and institutional structures into line with European standards and international experience in the areas of democracy, human rights and the rule of law.
A five-man mission visited Malta in early November to assess the situation on the ground and then drew up a report – technically known as an ‘opinion’ – on “constitutional arrangements and separation of powers and the independence of the judiciary and law enforcement”.
The part of the report Dr Hyzler referred to deals with legislative powers and, more specifically, the House of Representatives. This is what they said:
“In a larger Parliament, not only Opposition but also backbenchers from the governing party act as a check to the powers of the government and the Prime Minister. A smaller Parliament needs even more guarantees to be able to fulfil its role of controlling the executive.
“This is exacerbated by the fact that members of the House of Representatives act as ‘part-time’ MPs. The salaries they obtain from Parliament are too low for a living. This means that the MPs have other professions and can spend less time on their parliamentary work and notably on controlling the work of the government. However, as required by the Constitution, not only are there 15 ministers who are MPs, nearly a quarter of the number of MPs, many MPs also hold office in other officially-appointed bodies. The salaries in these bodies (committees, commissions etc.) are often substantially higher than those of Parliament. Given that it is often the Prime Minister who appoints MPs to these bodies, the possibilities of backbenchers controlling the government are seriously reduced if MPs have a financial incentive to seek offices at the disposal of the administration that they are supposed to control.
“The authorities pointed out that that part-time MPs, despite receiving part-time salaries, are not necessarily less independent than full-time ones since MPs who have a sufficient revenue from another profession are more independent and less dependent on their political party. Nonetheless, the Prime Minister appointing MPs to paid positions, coupled with their part-time salary as MPs, compromises their independence as legislators.”
No wonder Dr Hyzler feels he must look into the matter. He also noted that other points were also raised by the Venice Commission but these were beyond his remit.
The Prime Minister has pledged the government would implement the recommendations made. He said the report would be handed over to the steering committee coordinating an update to the Constitution, acknowledging that the process to change such matters was often “lengthy”.
There is no need to wait to address this particular issue. All it takes is a stroke of the Prime Minister’s pen.
This is a Times of Malta print editorial