Alex Borg vows to push for party financing reform
New Opposition leader says he will focus on party financing act in his first parliamentary speeches
Alex Borg has said he intends to dedicate his first parliamentary speeches as Opposition leader to the financing of political parties.
“During my campaign, I focused on the importance of transparency in party finances,” Borg told Times of Malta.
“That is why my first speech in parliament will be about the law on financing political parties.”
Borg was taking comments from journalists on Wednesday, moments after he was sworn in as Opposition leader at the Grand Master’s Palace in Valletta.
Malta’s current party financing law, the Financing of Political Parties Act, allows parties to keep donations of under €7,000 anonymous.
During his campaign, Borg called for “full disclosure” of donations to political parties and said he was not averse to public funding to reduce party reliance on private donations.
In a Times of Malta article published on Wednesday, former ambassador and political strategist Richard Cachia Caruana argued that parties should be banned from taking donations from big business.
Shadow cabinet 'in days to come'
The Gozitan lawyer said he has not yet decided on who will form part of his shadow cabinet but that he would be announcing his leadership team in the “days to come”.
Borg will find himself in the unusual position of having two former party leaders – Adrian Delia and Bernard Grech – among his MPs.
He told journalists that he had intentionally met with Delia, his rival for the leadership, earlier this week to “show a sense of unity”. Borg beat Delia by just 44 votes, and Delia’s camp had subsequently written to the party’s electoral commission to flag concerns about ineligible voters having cast their ballot.
The two men sought to put those tensions to bed on Tuesday when they both posted a photo of the two, smiling, along with the caption “together”.
“I believe everyone, Adrian, Bernard, has a role to play in this party. Like I said before, we are still discussing the roles of everyone, and soon the full list will be published,” Borg said on Wednesday.