WATCH | Speaker says Standing Orders render him powerless in addressing unanswered PQs

Speaker of the House Anglu Farrugia insisted parliament’s Standing Orders render him powerless when MPs fail to reply to parliamentary questions (PQs).

Interviewed on TVM’s Xtra, which was hosted by Kurt Sansone, Farrugia said he wants to see a cross-party working group introduce measures aimed at obliging ministers to answer PQs directly and concisely.

Last month MaltaToday reported how over 1,000 PQs made to government ministers since the start of the legislature remain unanswered.

Farrugia also spoke of how tensions sometimes boil over during parliamentary sittings, but maintained most are “orderly and dignified”.

He said since the introduction of cameras in the chamber, some have indulged in a “bit of theatre” especially during heated debates, but he stressed that transparency outweighed the occasional grandstanding.

On his decisions to block certain urgent debates, like when he ruled against debating the theft of drugs from an AFM bunker, he pointed to legal precedents, both locally and in European courts, which prevent parliament from discussing matters that could infringe on the rights of accused persons.

“If you open such a debate without control, you risk breaching their rights,” he warned.

The Speaker expressed optimism about the working group’s progress in reviewing parliamentary rules, from cutting speech times to clarifying committee obligations.

He recalled how debates once ran for hours unchecked, and said introducing tighter time limits had already improved efficiency. Committees, he underlined, are essential for scrutinising government, but ministers should not sit as members.

In his view, such arrangements undermine independence, particularly in the Public Accounts Committee, which he says should function free of partisan politics.

He championed the committee on petitions, his own initiative, as a way to give citizens direct input, though he acknowledged it has yet to fulfil its full potential.

He also supports introducing a citizens’ right of reply, ensuring that anyone named in parliament has a chance to correct the record if claims made against them are not correct or even completely false.

While parliamentary research analysts exist, he called for better support for MPs and stricter accountability on how public funds allocated to parties are spent. On whether MPs should serve full-time, he said he favours a hybrid model to avoid excluding professionals who might otherwise bring valuable experience to politics.

Addressing concerns about ministers’ declarations of assets not being published, he called for full compliance with the Office of the Commissioner for Standards in Public Life and urged a single, detailed declaration for all MPs, including earnings, to ensure absolute transparency.

Though supportive of giving more time to private members’ bills, he challenged MPs to make better use of the time they already have.