PARLIAMENT

The Nationalist Party 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 wished to use Parliament’s summer recess to take steps, together with the government, towards improving the institution’s efficiency and the democratic processes.

Together with spokesperson for civil liberties David Agius, he outlined a total of seven proposals the Opposition 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 it 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 British parliament’s book, De Marco also proposed a dedicated question time for the prime minister. Currently, the first half hour of each parliamentary session is taken up by PQs (parliamentary questions), where each MP has the opportunity to ask questions to ministers and parliamentary secretaries.

The Opposition is 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 the prime minister questions directly.

Building on a recurrent problem – since MPs are only employed on a part-time basis and retain their day job – is the proposal to equip Parliament with more researchers so that they can be better-prepared when technical debates crop up.

De Marco remarked that laws were 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 the government in order to come up with measures that might help more women enter Parliament, he believes that should the institution’s level of respectability increase and the way in which MPs from both sides of the House deal with each other change, this would encourage more women to join the fray.

A bone of contention only affecting those MPs wishing to put forward a private member’s bill 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 before it is discussed.

The final proposal relates to constitutional reform, where the PN has called on a two-thirds majority to be required.

Closing off the press conference, Agius said that the Opposition had already showed that it was ready to work with the 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 to the government to utilise the summer recess to progress with meaningful change.

Government statement

The government, in a statement, said that Prime Minister Joseph Muscat had already said that discussions with the Opposition will occur after the Opposition Leader selection process concludes.

“It was the government that introduced the Standards in Public Life law, and after the PN Leadership selection process, the government will see that there is agreement with the Opposition so that a Commissioner for Standards will be appointed.”

The government said it was open to discussions that could result in further parliamentary reform.