Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/801885
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 22 MARCH 2017 4 News Tonio Borg in PN's 'independent' party financing commission FORMER PN deputy leader and European Commissioner Tonio Borg is part of a so-called inde- pendent commission set up by the party to come up with proposals on party financing. The commission is chaired by retired judge Giovanni Bonello and also includes former Din l-Art Helwa president Petra Caruana Dingli. Opposition leader Simon Bu- suttil met the commission at the PN's headquarters earlier today to provide them with their terms of reference. In a statement, the PN said that the commission has been tasked with proposing "radical changes to Malta's political system", with a particular focus on the financing of politicians and political parties. Busuttil has pledged that the PN will include in its electoral mani- festo all of the board's proposals, no matter what they are. It will analyse systems that have been adopted by countries ranked by Transparency International as the most transparent in the world – currently Denmark, New Zea- land, Finland, Sweden and Swit- zerland. The commission will also launch a public consultation, open to any- one who wants to put forward their proposals. Busuttil announced the forma- tion of the commission earlier this month in the wake of a con- troversy sparked by hotelier Silvio Debono's claim that he has been forking out the monthly salaries of the PN's secretary general Rosette Thake and its CEO Brian St John. Simon Busuttil (centre) met the commission on party financing which he entrusted with drawing up proposals on party financing Union calls on government to address concerns of BA workers CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 On Friday, represented by Union Haddiema Maghqudin (UHM), the employees attended a me- diation meeting but an impasse was reached after the author- ity's law yer Ian Refalo proposed that the chairwoman's role will be limited to a non-executive one. But UHM pointed out that the law already stipulates that the BA chairperson is a non-execu- tive role, insisting that they had no guarantee that the alleged bullying would stop. Following the meeting, a UHM spokesperson confirmed that the situation remained un- changed and industrial action would continue and possibly escalate. Last week, BA employees held an industrial action over a dis- pute with the authority's chair- person, who they said considers the employees to be "extra" and whom they have accused of bul- lying. Bonello said that while par- liament is debating a new law intended to restructure and strengthen the media, the gov- ernment was allowing the situ- ation at the authority to dete- riorate. "We are here in a symbolic protest on behalf of the work- ers of the Broadcasting Author- ity because the government has not yet addressed their con- cerns," Bonello said. He stressed that this was the second letter that the union was sending to the Prime Min- ister, adding that a solution needed to be found to safeguard the functioning of the media watchdog, especially in light of the upcoming election. "It is not enough for the coun- try to have a government that listens," insisted Bonello. "It must also be ready to take action."