A better working place for Parliament needed (1)

Why do so many people criticise the government's decision to build a new Parliament? Many think that it is inappropriate for parliamentarians to have a new building. Is this a sign of lack of trust in politicians in this country?

I agree that the Parliament should be provided with a better working place. Since Malta gained EU membership, we have been expected to follow more EU obligations. The existing Parliament building cannot cope with these obligations adequately. Large parliaments in Europe like the Westminster find it difficult to undertake their legislative and scrutinising functions as they should, let alone our small Parliament that is operating in a building which has been adequate for a number of years, but no more.

The Parliament is not just the parliamentarians. In reality politicians in Parliament represent the "face" of Parliament. On the other hand, there is the "faceless" administration that is very important for the good functioning of Parliament. Other countries' parliamentarians usually have their own offices and staff. The current situation in Malta is that MPs lack this staff, while the Parliament's administration is relatively small.

Since 1995, the Maltese Parliament has gone through a major reform through the creation of Parliamentary committees like the Public Accounts Committee. Parliamentary committees are usually considered as the forums where most parliamentary work is undertaken. However, as I wrote above, if we want to have effective committees in scrutinising not only legislation proposed nationally but also legislation originating from Brussels, we cannot keep on working with such limited resources.

However, many people doubt the politicians' will to work more if they are given a better working place. In order to ensure that people's money is used well in terms of higher parliamentary productivity, we must have a Parliament that is more media-friendly, where journalists can research and report better the Parliament's work.

The Lisbon Treaty will bring new challenges to our Parliament. This Treaty provides that national parliaments are provided with all proposed EU legislation in order to carry out their scrutiny and if necessary object to certain provisions in the EU draft legislation. In order to do so, the Parliament must be better equipped. Otherwise, our Parliament would have the power to act but would not be able to do so in an effective manner.

We cannot expect to have a Parliament that is as large as other countries'. However, we need a more effective Parliament in defending our interests. The new building can give the opportunity for this to happen. However, this cannot happen automatically unless there is the will of the political class to become more accountable. Building a new Parliament cannot be considered as an expense but an investment - but only if our parliamentarians also face the reality of globalisation and are as flexible as any other citizen.