Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/257374
12 FOR the last few years one could hardly open a newspaper without finding at least one story quoting Franco Debono: the Ghaxaq lawyer and 'rebel MP' who deprived the former Nationalist government of its parliamentary majority on more than one occasion, and who was perceived as one of the prime causes of its landslide defeat last March. Yet with so many factors now seemingly vindicating his earlier positions on many issues (as he reminds me almost endlessly, the Justice Reform Commission report echoes all his own arguments al- most to the letter) Debono has been surprisingly quiet of late. Not even the publication of White Paper on Party Financing – a subject he has championed since 2012 – has so far elicited a reaction. I meet him at his legal office on Strait Street, Valletta, and find the usually combative lawyer in a con- ciliatory mood. "Do I feel vindicated?" he muses, echoing my question. "Not really. I'm just satisfied that many of the things I have been arguing about and trying to draw to public attention are finally being addressed. This is good for everybody… Malta will be a better place with this law…" But at the same time it was only a year ago that Debono was pub- licly vilified as having 'betrayed' the party he once formed part of, in part by insisting on reforms that his own government had either neglected or ignored altogether. With many of these reforms now in progress, some of the very people who criti- cised him at the time – not least the Nationalist Party, which had even formally 'condemned' Franco Debono by means of a party reso- lution – are now singing a slightly different tune… seemingly agreeing with things they had argued against in recent years. Does he have no comment to make about the apparent volte-face? He shrugs. "I don't see any point in dragging all that up now. Let by- gones be bygones." One other thing he had also ar- gued about at the time of his 'con- demnation', he reminds me, was the distinction between a member of parliament and the party which he or she represents. "It was the sub- ject of my thesis: an MP is not a par- ty delegate, but a representative of the people elected on a party ticket. The focus should be on parliament, not the parties. Part of the problem that the party financing bill will hopefully address is that political parties have outgrown their stature, and have dwarfed parliament as a result. To this day, Malta remains the only European country where political parties are not regulated at law. They have been left free to do whatever they like, unaccountable and unanswerable to anyone…" He does however acknowledge that the country has taken a very er- ratic approach to the issue of party financing, which he reiterates is of pivotal importance to a functional democracy. "First it was nothing for 20 years; then in the last two years alone there was my bill presented in parliament, followed by a White Paper… so at least, things are clearly gaining momentum." For all his magnanimity, Franco Debono does not resist taking credit for kick-starting the entire process. "My first ever speech as the youngest member of parlia- ment was about party financing. Here, let me find it for you…" One quick internet search later he reads out his own words to me, across a continuum of four years: "'The time has certainly come when our country, like all other European countries, has a law which not only regulates the financing of political parties but also their organisation and inter- nal functions as orgainsations of Constitutional relevance… The reality is that political parties are not just political/social entities but an integral part of the Consti- tutional structure…'" Coming back to the White Pa- per, he argues that the situation as it stood when he made that speech – and still stands today – was "surreal". "I am a big fan of Salvador Dali," he adds. "I like surrealism in art. In politics, however, it is another matter." It was surreal, he insists, that there was no legislation whatso- ever governing how political par- ties conducted their affairs. "Even a village band club is regulated by the Voluntary Organisations act. How much more should a politi- cal party, which has such respon- sibilities towards the public, be regulated?" The worst situation imagina- ble, he adds, is not is not to have a law at all. "So even just having a law is itself a step forward. If it needs tweaking, so be it. That can be done later. But we have to take that first step." All the same, the White Paper has been variously criticised since it was launched last Monday. De- spite an apparent consensus on the principle, there is still broad disagreement on the details. Al- ternattiva Demokratika has com- plained that the proposed thresh- olds are too high – an opinion now shared by the PN, though it had argued the opposite way in 1995 – and perhaps more cogent- ly that the Electoral Commission is an unsuitable entity to enforce such regulations, as its members are nominated by the same par- ties which they will now have to regulate. Elsewhere, PL secretary Toni Abela has argued against the im- position of any spending thresh- olds for electoral candidates at all. Franco Debono himself consist- ently reminds me that the White Paper is openly based on his own draft law, tabled in 2012. How does he counter criticism of what are effectively his own proposals? "I welcome the debate," he re- plies abruptly. "The aim of the White Paper is exactly that of sparking a debate about the sub- ject; to create awareness about the importance of regulating party financing, and to listen attentively to the criticisms and proposals wherever they come from. Both Toni Abela and [PN secretary] Chris Said's views will be listened to attentively and analysed. The White Paper cannot have the desired effect if people don't come forward with their criticism and proposals." But surely he has opinions of his own. What does he think of the ob- jections? Let's start with the issue of electoral spending: does he find it surprising that a socialist politi- cian would recommend a free-for-all which would automatically advan- tage very wealthy candidates over less affluent ones? "My view is that a good law should strike a balance between the interests of transparency, and the existence of political parties which have their own needs. Political candidates need to spend money on campaigns, and the national interest demands that this should be done transparently. But how do you fix amounts?" The answer, he adds, involves another balancing act: this time between the expenses involved in electioneering (and here he confirms that these are considerably higher than the maximum threshold already in place); and what he describes as a 'political principle' which should, in theory, create a level playing field for everyone. "Electoral success should not de- pend solely on one's pocket. If it were up to me, I would stand by that principle and enshrine it in the law. But I'm not the one calling the shots here. I voice my opinion like every- body else, but it is up to others to ac- tually legislate." On the subject of the cited maxi- mum limits for individual donations, Debono proves impatient. "Let's not get lost in details. If you remember the Galdes Commission report" – the 1995 document which sparked an abortive debate on party financ- ing – "the issue we all got stuck on back then was the amounts. Let's not repeat the same mistake. At the mo- ment the important thing is to intro- duce a legal structure so that political parties can be regulated. Later we can have a debate on the thresholds…" He also envisages speedy solu- tions to these teething problems. "I haven't read Chris Said's suggestions for lower donations thresholds in de- tail, but let's for argument's sake say he suggested a maximum donation of €30,000 instead of €50,000. It's not exactly very difficult to find a middle road…" Other objections may however prove harder to resolve. Many might sympathise with AD's concerns with the Electoral Commission be- ing largely politically appointed. Wouldn't it make more sense to invest the authority to investigate parties in a separate parliamentary entity? "I think it would make more sense to revamp the Electoral Commis- sion," he replies. "For one thing it's already there… a separate parlia- mentary committee would have to be created, resources would have to be invested, etc. But I do agree that the Electoral Commission needs re- forming. So why not use the party financing law as a pretext to reform the commission, instead of reinvent- ing the wheel?" One final concern is that the pro- posed law in its present form seems very easy to circumvent. The larger political parties have vested com- mercial interests of their own, also including media companies. The White Paper makes no reference at all to such entities. Surely, then, all a prospective donor would have to do to sidestep the legal donations threshold would be to simply take out advertising with those compa- nies, instead of handing the party a cheque? Debono however vehemently de- nies that the parties' commercial companies have been overlooked. "The White Paper makes it clear that it is based on the bill I presented in 2012. That bill did make reference to the party's commercial operations. It's in the definitions, laid down in section 5." Donations to companies owned by political parties are therefore covered by the legal definitions of party do- nations, at least in his own proposed bill; but Debono acknowledges that there is no legal limit to the amount one can spend on advertising with a political party-owned station. "One of the main inspirations for the 2012 bill was Cynthia Bauerly, the chair of the US federal Election Commission. I had met her when I went to the UN Congress in New York with Lawrence Gonzi, and we had discussed party financing. She told me then that any country's party financing laws can only be a 'work in progress'. This applies to the issue of thresholds: expenses change over time, and the law must be updated to Interview By Raphael Vassallo POLITICAL SURREALISM I am a big fan of Salvador Dali. I like surrealism in art. In politics, however, it is another matter ELECTORAL SPENDING Electoral success should not depend solely on one's pocket. If it were up to me, I would stand by that principle and enshrine it in the law Let's not get lost in details