Although the government’s decision to have a 26-day Easter recess has justifiably attracted a great deal of criticism from various quarters including the Opposition, which has labelled the long recess as “scandalous”, a quick look at the history books shows there is really nothing new about the time frame.

While it was only two years ago that Parliament took a similarly long break between 24 March and 19 April under the current Nationalist administration, the biggest surprise, considering the blistering statements made by the Opposition this week, was that in 1997 under a Labour administration, Parliament had been adjourned for the Easter recess on 26 March and was reconvened on 21 April – for exactly 26 days as is the case this Easter.

Following the controversy that erupted last Thursday over the Easter recess, The Malta Independent on Sunday consulted parliamentary records for all plenary debates dating back to 1992, and some interesting patterns emerged.

On average, the Easter recess is approximately 19 days, with Parliament usually holding its last plenary session on a Wednesday and reconvening almost three weeks later on a Monday. Excluding 1997, 2010 and 2012, the longest recess was in 1999 with 22 days, and the shortest recess was in 1993 with 13 days.

In a press release issued following last Thursday’s press conference slamming the duration of this year’s recess, the Labour Party described it as “a four-week holiday for Prime Minister Gonzi”.

While the Opposition may have good reason to complain that such a decision should have been taken in the House Business Committee with both parties’ consent, Labour’s credibility on the issue regarding the time frames involved is, as such, somewhat shaky.

Opposition Whip Joe Mizzi may also be justified in claiming that since 1989 when he was elected to Parliament, no government had ever resorted to such unilateral measures regarding the Easter recess, i.e. taking the decision outside the remit of the House Business Committee, but it is also true that he himself had formed part of the 1996-98 Labour government that had similarly adjourned Parliament exactly for 26 days.

The 1996-98 Labour government, like the current Nationalist administration, had decided to take a rather unusual lengthy break in 1997, which that year fell on 30 March. To put this in the context of the time, this was barely six months after having been voted back into office on 26 October 1996, and at a time when the Labour government was still coming to terms with a serious but non-fatal blow dealt earlier in the month by Lino Spiteri’s decision to resign from his position as finance minister.