Opposition leader proposed three other candidates for standards commissioner post

Opposition leader Bernard Grech had proposed three other candidates for the role of standards commissioner, but Prime Minister Robert Abela dismissed all suggestions, the Nationalist Party said on Wednesday.

In a statement, the party claimed that Robert Abela made a ‘deal’ with Azzopardi to nominate him for the post, “although he knows that he’s not the most suitable person for this role”.

“Instead of strengthening this important tool of democracy in our country, Robert Abela is seizing another institution so that, with his choice of nominee, he can weaken it and make it useless.”

Joseph Azzopardi, a former judge and Chief Justice Emeritus, was nominated by Abela to fill the position after former Commissioner George Hyzler stepped down to take on a post in the European Court of Auditors.

Currently, there is no Commissioner for Standards in Public Life.

To appoint a new Commissioner, parliament needs to reach cross-party consensus with a two-thirds majority in favour of the nomination.

With the Nationalist Party opposed to Azzopardi’s appointment, the post is in limbo.

The Prime Minister presented an amendment Bill in parliament two days after Christmas to set up an anti-deadlock mechanism for the appointment of a commissioner.

The proposal allows the standards commissioner to be appointed by parliament through a simple majority vote if the nomination fails to garner a two-thirds majority in two previous voting rounds.

Anti-corruption NGO Repubblika claimed on Wednesday that the proposed legal weakens parliamentary autonomy and would remove the Standards Commissioner’s moral authority.

"Government will in this nominate people close to the administration, to force the Opposition to object to the nomination right up to the point where the government will then have the power to appoint whoever it wishes,” Repubblika president Robert Aquilina said.

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