The Nationalist Party on Tuesday said it "welcomed" the decision of the Standing Committee on Standards in Public Life to adopt the report of the Commissioner for Standards, which found Minister Chris Bonett in breach of the Code of Ethics following a complaint filed by PN MPs Mark Anthony Sammut and Joe Giglio.

The report of the Commissioner for Standards in Public Life was adopted after, during yesterday's meeting of the Parliamentary Committee, the two members nominated by the Prime Minister - Ministers Byron Camilleri and Jonathan Attard - abstained, while the two substitute members nominated by the Leader of the Opposition, Paula Mifsud Bonnici and Michael Piccinino, voted in favour.

The case concerned a statement containing partisan attacks and unfounded allegations which the Minister issued through the Government's Department of Information (DOI), despite a number of previous cases in which the Commissioner had already drawn the attention of other Ministers to the fact that statements issued through the DOI should be objective and should not contain partisan material.

"While other Ministers had apologised and given assurances that such cases would not be repeated, Minister Bonett remained obstinate and continued to fail to distinguish between his role as a Minister and his role as a member of a political party," the PN said.

At the same time, the PN cannot but express its disappointment at the fact that the Government continues to drag its feet on giving legal force to the guidelines issued by the Office of the Commissioner for Standards on how the Code of Ethics for Ministers and Parliamentary Secretaries should be interpreted with regard to Government advertising and promotional material.

This has resulted in reports by the same Commissioner concerning the abuse of Government advertising by Ministers and Parliamentary Secretaries not being adopted by Parliament's Standards Committee, on the grounds that the advertising guidelines do not have the force of law.

This happened once again yesterday during the same meeting of the Standing Committee on Standards in Public Life, which had before it three reports concerning abusive Government advertising.

Speaker Carmelo Abela decided to follow in the footsteps of his predecessor and voted against all three reports of the Commissioner for Standards in Public Life.

Back in 2021, the previous Speaker had abstained on a similar report on the grounds that there were no guidelines establishing clear criteria on how Government advertising should be carried out without becoming personal publicity for Ministers, the PN said.

Only a few months later, the then Commissioner for Standards published a document setting out clear guidelines on how the Code of Ethics should be interpreted in this regard. That document was circulated to all Members of Parliament and no objections were raised.

Despite this, even after the guidelines were introduced, both former Speaker Anġlu Farrugia and now the current Speaker Carmelo Abela have voted against every report by the Commissioner for Standards finding an ethical breach by Ministers or Parliamentary Secretaries who used public funds for advertising and personal promotion. The justification given has been that these guidelines do not have legal force, the PN said.

At the same time, the Government has taken no steps to incorporate these guidelines into the Code itself if its Ministers are incapable of interpreting the Code of Ethics when it comes to advertising and promotional material.

This has created a situation in which Ministers and Parliamentary Secretaries effectively have carte blanche to disregard the Code of Ethics in this area, knowing that the Committee, through the Speaker's casting vote, repeatedly rejects the report even when the Commissioner finds a breach.

While some Ministers involved in similar reports apologised voluntarily, and there were cases in which funds were even reimbursed, others have continued to repeat the same abuse, report after report.

The PN said it deplores this situation, which continues to create a clear imbalance in the use of the machinery of the State and public funds in the functioning of democracy.

The PN also called on the Government to adopt the Commissioner for Standards' guidelines without further delay. For as long as it continues to refuse to do so, it will only be confirming that it is deliberately dragging its feet so that, when it comes to advertising funded by public money, its Ministers and Parliamentary Secretaries can continue doing as they please.