The Nationalist Party (PN) has slammed what it described as an “anti-democratic and irresponsible” plan, proposed by Prime Minister Robert Abela, to change the law, allowing the government to choose the new Commissioner for Standards in Public Life.
Currently, a new Standards Commissioner is appointed with a two-thirds majority vote in parliament. The PN is opposing the government's idea to have former Chief Justice Joseph Azzopardi named as Standards Commissioner. The government now wants to change the rules to make sure the person wanted by Abela is selected, the PN said.
In a statement on Friday, the Office of the Prime Minister said that Abela tabled the two motions in Parliament to nominate former Chief Justice Joseph Azzopardi and retired Judge Joseph Zammit McKeon to the posts of Standards Commissioner and Ombudsman respectively.
The PN has said that it is in favour of Zammit McKeon’s appointment but is against Azzopardi’s appointment.
The PN said that because Abela knows that the person he is proposing cannot be accepted by the opposition, he is trying to “change the rules of democracy” to get his way.
“What Robert Abela wants to do is a serious threat to democracy and goes against the rule of law in our country,” the PN said.
The PN said that the way a Standards commissioner is appointed should remain the way it is and be chosen by the parliament as a whole and not just by the government.
The PN is accusing Abela of wanting to pick and choose who gets investigated in parliament, instead of everyone in parliament being investigated.
“(PN leader) Bernard Grech remains at all times under all circumstances available to discuss other names with the Prime Minister who might be suitable to serve in this important position for our country,” the PN said.
The position of Ombudsman has been up for renewal since 2021 after Anthony Mifsud’s five-year term expired. He stayed on in the post, maintaining it until a replacement would be found but recently warned that the office was suffering from a lack of long-term planning and motivation because his replacement was yet to be selected.
George Hyzler meanwhile departed from the post of Standards Commissioner at the end of last summer in order to take up a posting at the European Court of Auditors.
In a counter statement, the Labour Party said the opposition has the chance to see the appointment of a Commissioner for Standards with immediate effect. What it needs to do is apporve the motion filed by the Prime Minister.
As of today, the opposition has not given a valid reason why it is objecting to the nomination put forward by Abela, the PL said. It cannot speak of democracy when it is demanding that the will of the minority takes prevalence, the PL added.