Grech decries ‘complete take-over of another institution’ as Standards Commissioner reforms go ahead

The bill introducing an anti-deadlock mechanism to appoint a new Standards Commissioner will result in a “complete take-over of another institution,” the leader of the Nationalist Party Bernard Grech said in parliament on Wednesday.

The government has proposed an amendment to the Standards in Public Life Act to introduce an anti-deadlock mechanism for the post of Standards Commissioner. This was prompted by the disagreement over the proposed appointment of retired Chief Justice Joseph Azzopardi to succeed George Hyzler in the role, after the latter left the post a year early to take up a post with the European Court of Auditors.

The newly proposed mechanism lays down that the Standards Commissioner should be nominated with the support of both sides of the house, but in the event that the required two-thirds majority is not reached, then the appointment is made via a simple majority.

Despite the PN's opposition, the second reading for the bill was passed in parliament and will now proceed to the next stage.

The vote passed with a 39 to 33 majority.

The vote was on the second reading of the bill, meaning that the amendments have not become law yet. It will now go to parliamentary committee stages, where changes can be made before returning for a final vote.

Speaking on the final day of the debate on the matter, Grech said that this bill is being proposed because Prime Minster Robert Abela wants to have control over everything, and if this bill goes through the government will have full control over this institution.

“For Abela, the institutions working means that they work according to how he would like them to work.”

Grech recalled how he had proposed to Abela that they should come up with a short list of potential candidates and then pick one which is accepted by both sides of the house. Following this, they would both offer the chosen candidate the role to show him that they have the faith of both sides of the house.

Grech added that there were also conditions that he sent to Abela, one of which was that they would not make the proposed candidates public, however, Grech accused Abela of leaking the names.

However, he said that Abela did not want to listen and cooperate with anything Grech proposed as he was only interested in appointing one candidate: Azzopardi.

The PL have also been accusing the PN of not giving a proper reason as to why it disagrees with Azzopardi for the post of Standards Commissioner. Grech asked the PL why it has not given a proper reason why former judge Silvio Meli or former Air Malta CEO Philip Micallef would not be suited for the roles.

Grech also spoke about how although Labour MPs have been praising the work of George Hyzler, Hyzler has been under heavy scrutiny by the Labour Party for a while. Grech proceeded to quote articles from the media showing this.

“The law we are discussing today: Either we agree with them, or they do whatever they want. This is Robert Abela, this is the Labour Party.”