Tonio Borg in PN’s independent party financing commission

The PN has pledged to include all the commission's proposals on political financing in its electoral manifesto 

Simon Busuttil meets up with the independent commission on party financing
Simon Busuttil meets up with the independent commission on party financing

Former PN deputy leader and European Commissioner Tonio Borg is part of an independent 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 Busuttil 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 manifesto all of the board’s proposals, no matter what they are.

It will analyze systems that have been adopted by countries ranked by Transparency International as the most transparent in the world – currently Denmark, New Zealand, Finland, Sweden and Switzerland.

The commission will also launch a public consultation, open to anyone who wants to put forward their proposals.

Busuttil announced the formation of the commission earlier this month in the wake of a controversy 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.