AD forms group to join discussion on party financing rules

The group is made up of the AD spokesperson on sustainable development Carmel Cacopardo, international secretary Arnold Cassola, and secretary general Ralph Cassar as a substitute member.

"While we welcome talks on party financing laws, it is too early to say if there will be any progress," Cassar said. “Talks to introduce rules have repeatedly failed to yield any results.”

Cassar said that back in 1995, the Galdes Commission had come to a standstill because of the Nationalist Party’s unwillingness to regulate party funding. “Presumably because a free-for-all suited the party well at the time,” he said.

Cassar explained that later on followed a long period during which neither Labour nor PN bothered to tackle or propose anything concrete on the issue.

“The latest spokes in the wheels for any hope of reform came recently, with the Labour Parliamentary Opposition walking out of a parliamentary committee on reforms," he said. 
 
"Since it has been ascertained that the majority of PN and PL candidates have openly flouted the law on candidate spending during the 2009 European Parliament elections and since certain revelations about how a Minister’s campaign has been financed have surfaced, it seems that what Alternattiva Demokratika has been calling for over the past 20 years is being heeded,” Cassar said, referring to the story revealed in MaltaToday where an official cashed cheques to allegedly pay for the Finance Minister’s electoral campaign.

Cassar however questions whether “there is any real political will to make things happen”.

“As a party we are always ready to sit around the table and talk things through, but we also expect the others to be really and truly willing to come to a meaningful conclusion,” Cassar said.