The Nationalist Party (PN) has called for a dedicated Prime Minister's question time in Parliament along with six other proposals it believes will help strengthen Parliamentary efficiency.
Outgoing PN Deputy Leader Mario de Marco said that the Opposition wishes to use the Parliament summer break so that together with the government, steps are taking to improve efficiency and the democratic processes.
Together with spokesperson for civil liberties David Agius, the pair outlined a total of seven proposals it feels would help Parliament provide an overall better service to the people.
De Marco expressed the Opposition’s wish for the Prime Minister to submit a list of contenders for the role of Commissioner for Standards in Public life, so that the Opposition would be able to scrutinise the nominees.
The second proposal relates to higher scrutiny of public roles, such as the chairperson of public authorities, ambassadors and high ranking members of the armed forces. De Marco reminded members of the press that this system is already used in other parliamentary democracies abroad, adding that this would help increase the trust and faith people place in such entities.
Taking a leaf out of the English Parliamentary system’s book, de Marco also proposed dedicated time to question time for the Prime Minister. Currently, the first half an hour of each parliamentary session are taken up by ‘parliamentary questions’, where each MP has the opportunity to ask government MPs questions.
The Opposition are now proposing to have a dedicated period of time, possibly every two weeks, were MPs will have the opportunity to ask the Prime Minister specific questions. De Marco said that this would improve accountability and would also give backbenchers the opportunity to ask questions to the PM directly.
Building on a recurrent problem since MPs are just employed on a part-time basis and still retain their day job, is the proposal to equip Parliament with more researchers so that they can be more prepared when technical debates crop up in Parliament.
De Marco remarked that laws are becoming more and more technical, requiring MPs more prep-time in order to better serve the public.
"A proposal which we can say already enjoys agreement from both sides of the House is higher female representation in Parliament." Agius remarked that while the opposition looks forward to meeting with government in order to come up with measures that help more women enter Parliament, he believes that should the institution’s level of respectability increases and the way in which MPs from both sides of the House deal with each other changes, this would encourage more women to join the fray.
A bone of contention which only effects those MPs wishing to put forward Private Members’ Bills is the fact that procedurally, a period of three months is required before such a Bill can make it to the floor. The Opposition is appealing to the government for such Bills to be debated after both sides of the House agree on a day, rather than waiting three months between one Bill and the next one before it is discussed.
The final proposal revolves around Constitutional reform, where the PN argued that a two-thirds parliamentary majority would be required.
Closing off the press conference, Agius said that the opposition already showed that it is ready to work with government after debates on 10 public entities were concluded in such a short space of time.
He called for respect to be shown to the opposition and appealed with government to utilise the summer break and progress with meaningful change.
Government statement
Government, in a statement, said that Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has already said that discussions with the opposition will occur after the opposition Leader selection process concludes.
“It was government that introduced the Standards in Public Life law, and after the PN Leadership selection process, government will see that there be agreement with the Opposition so that a Commissioner for Standards will be appointed.”
Government said it is open to discussions that can result in further Parliamentary reforms.
Photos: Baskal Mallia