Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/416739
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 16 NOVEMBER 2014 10 News THEY may have said nothing new, but it was the way they said it and when they said it which left a mark on those who followed their speech- es. In an increasingly surreal scenario marked by an escalation in political tension three and a half years before a general election, Evarist Bartolo and Mario de Marco went beyond partisan considerations in their contribution to the debate on party financing. Neither Bartolo nor de Marco have parted ways with party orthodoxy, but both looked at ways of strength- ening Maltese democracy rather than scoring partisan points. Both defended the role of political parties as a fundamental aspect of Maltese democracy, something which con- trasts with the drift towards a presi- dential style of leadership which rel- egates political parties to the role of cheerleaders for strong leaders. While back in July the Labour gov- ernment had shunned the idea of state funding for political parties, re- jecting an appeal by the Opposition to set a working group to draw up a report on state financing, Evarist Bartolo reiterated the basic left-wing principle that it is better to have parties funded by the state than by private interests. One may say that the only difference between Evarist Bartolo and his colleagues is one of emphasis, for government has not excluded introducing state funding at some date in the future. While the law itself bans state funding, Justice Minister Owen Bon- nici argued in parliament that "po- litical parties had to set their house in order so that taxpayers could be satisfied that any public funds which went to the parties were used well". In fact, both Bonnici and Bartolo adopt a gradualist position, which contrasts with the PL's more enthu- siastic support for state funding in 2009. This on its own exposes anoth- er truth: that parties are keener on state financing when in Opposition, but lose their appetite for it when elected to government. But while still a gradualist, Bartolo was the only MP on the government bench to present an ideological argu- ment for state funding. He described political parties as a "key to a strong democracy" and warned of the risks of having parties reliant on "big pri- vate donors". Bartolo argued that taxpayers would be more willing to fund par- ties with their taxes if these dispense of party owned TV stations. "Taxpay- ers do not want their money used to fund the political parties so that they could continue to insult each other" but may be more willing to fund "the drafting of modern policies." Bartolo's speech is even more sig- nificant in view of the lack of any public debate in the Labour party on its long-term vision. It could serve as a wake up call for a party, which like the Nationalist party after 2004, has already entered a state of hiberna- tion. Small parties make us stronger On the other side of the divide, it was de Marco who stood out in an- other forward-looking speech which not only went beyond purely parti- san considerations but represented a sharp departure from the way his party traditionally ridiculed third parties like Alternattiva Demokra- tika. De Marco criticised the debate on party financing as one which gave the impression that "only Labour and PN existed in Malta as if the political landscape could never change… or that a change would not necessarily be good." De Marco said that even though Alternattiva Demokratika had failed to elect an MP ever since it was con- ceived, yet it still served important functions especially in its calls for transparency, accountability and its advocacy of environment protec- tion. Both politicians have managed to lift the level of debate by thinking beyond narrow partisan considera- tions. Surely de Marco could have been more concrete in proposing splitting the present €200,000 a year meant to help parties in their research on EU matters with third parties which abide by a set of basic requirements. Like Bartolo, de Marco did not break ranks with his colleagues. But even in his attack on Labour over its properties taken from pri- vate owners or sited on public land, de Marco was keener on presenting a moral and principled argument. "The government has to accept that a Labour government in the past failed to distinguish between a gov- ernment and the party and between the government and the state. There was blatant abuse of the requisition order and the present Labour ad- ministration must acknowledge this. If we are to have a level playing field, the Labour Party must return its 28 properties to the rightful owners." For while the PN's call for a level playing field is legitimate in view of the advantages it inherits from the past, its demand for financial com- pensation to make up for this imbal- ance comes across to the electorate as an attempt to turn an injustice into a lucrative opportunity for the financially troubled PN. De Marco, like his party, failed to refer to the clubs the PN owns in Ta' Xbiex, Paola and Santa Lucija which A double dose of reason BY JAMES DEBONO In parliament Evarist Bartolo and Mario de Marco have stood up to be counted as voices of reason at a time marked by an escalation in the permanent war of attrition between the two parties, says JAMES DEBONO Busuttil seems bent on carrying out party reform concurrently with sharper antagonism against the government… but the higher dose of partisanship could be off- putting to the middle-of-the- road voters it wants to reach The appeal by left-wing academics calling on Labour to come to terms with its own history, could not be timelier and deserves a response by the party Mario de Marco – forward-looking speech Joseph Muscat: ratings drop