Monday’s post-COVID-19 economic recovery mini-budget has fuelled discord between the government and opposition on what parliamentary procedure to follow.

Announced on Sunday by Prime Minister Robert Abela as part of the roadmap to the ‘new normal’, this exercise is unprecedented in recent parliamentary history.

A government spokesman said it would not be a full-blown budget where each ministry is treated separately. He said the details of this “business stimulus package” were still being ironed out and consultations were taking place with the opposition.

At the time of writing, however, neither the Finance Ministry nor the Office of the Prime Minister were in a position to state exactly what would be happening on Monday evening.   

We expect the government to show more respect for Malta’s highest democratic institution

One of the stumbling blocks is the running order of the parliamentary session. In normal circumstances, the finance minister, the opposition leader and the prime minister would address the House in this order in separate sittings, but the government is proposing to hold all of the speeches on Monday.

Contacted by Times of Malta, Opposition Whip Robert Cutajar said the matter should be decided in the House Business Committee. For some reason, the government was ignoring the opposition’s calls to summon it, he said.

Instead, the government notified the opposition that Monday’s sitting would start at 6pm rather than at 4pm, with Finance Minister Edward Scicluna delivering the mini-budget speech, followed by opposition leader Adrian Delia’s reply. Prime Minister Robert Abela would wind down the debate.

Is the Opposition expected to react without analysing proposals?

“The procedure is unacceptable,” Cutajar said. “The opposition leader will be expected to give his reaction without having any time to analyse the proposals”.

The opposition Whip said the Clerk of the House had been alerted to the fact that the parliamentary agenda set on Wednesday night, when the House adjourned, states it is to convene on Monday at 4pm, with no mention of the mini-budget.

Cutajar noted that the opposition had been very cooperative during the pandemic, voting in favour of a money bill which authorised the government to raise a €2 billion loan to finance COVID-19 economic measures. The Bill had been approved in one session.

“We expect the government to show more respect for Malta’s highest democratic institution,” Cutajar added.