MEPs Simon Busuttil and David Casa were surprised that The Malta Independent described as “ethically flawed” the practice of MPs and MEPs using postage paid by the government for them to send out any material they want to constituents around the country.
In their letter in reply to a report carried by this newspaper on 1 April, they said that this is a long-standing facility that enables MPs – and MEPs since May 2004 – to reach out to the public through the sending of fliers and other published material to people in their district or, in the case of MEPs, to residents in their localities.
For one thing, the fact that it is a long-standing practice does not necessarily make it a good one. When we say that the government pays for the postage costs of such a practice, what we are really saying is that it is the taxpayers who are paying for material that, on most occasions, they simply throw away without opening or without actually reading the material inside the envelopes.
It is primarily a matter of costs and also one that is closely related to the environment.
An MP or MEP can send any material he or she likes to constituents, and this often is self-promotion or, worse, to announce activities that will be held at a cost for the people attending. So, on the one hand you have an MP or MEP promoting an activity from which he or she will be gaining money, while at the same time not paying for the postage costs of this self-promotion exercise.
Dr Busuttil and Mr Casa cannot be singled out in this regard, because they are not the only ones who make use of this facility. The Malta Independent mentioned them in the report carried because it is in possession of items they sent in House of Representatives envelopes, without paying for the postage themselves, but the practice is widespread.
Most MPs make use of these facilities, the more so when an election is approaching. Sometimes, they go as far as sending birthday cards to people they do not even know. This raises another issue, apart from the costs and waste of paper – what about privacy and data protection? How does an MP or MEP get to know when someone’s birthday is?
The two MEPs, in their reply to TMID, took this newspaper to task for not calculating correctly, in their opinion, the amount of money spent on postage for the items they had sent. But the question is whether MPs or MEPs should continue to enjoy such a practice which, as explained earlier, is paid for by the taxpayer.
Why should households be sent material they do not want from Parliament, and have to pay for it themselves? This is not material that all of us find in letter boxes from companies wanting to promote their wares at their own cost – be it printing or distribution. What MPs or MEPs send is material taxpayers are paying for with their own money. Considering that MaltaPost is no longer owned by the government, one wonders what each and every one of us is paying to receive such items. Is there an MP out there who would like to table a PQ on the matter? Highly unlikely.
MPs and MEPs speak a lot about the environment and act as if they are champions of the cause. Have they ever thought of how much paper is wasted and the cost – again, paid for by the government through taxpayers’ money – to collect it and dispose of it?
The two sides of the House seem to be in agreement that this practice should continue – of course, they are the ones who are benefiting from it. It will be hard to convince them to do away with the practice but, if they have some commonsense, this should be one of the practices that is dropped.