Updated May 3 with the reaction of government representatives.

Parliament’s standards committee has gone six months without a meeting, despite repeated requests by Opposition MPs for it to convene.

The committee for Standards in public life, which is chaired by Speaker Anġlu Farrugia, last met on November 9, 2022.

Its work has been non-existent since that date, with government representatives Jonathan Attard and Andy Ellul never able to meet on dates proposed by Farrugia, the Nationalist Party alleged.

The PN highlighted the issue in a press statement issued on Wednesday, saying its committee representatives Mark Anthony Sammut and Ryan Callus had filed five requests for a meeting and that committee chair Farrugia had made “at least two” attempts to find a suitable date.

Committee members are tasked with discussing reports concluded by the Commissioner for Standards in Public Life about ethical breaches by MPs. They can then vote to discipline the MP in question as they see fit.

During its last meeting, the committee was discussing a report into the misuse of public funds to place political adverts on the Labour-owned newspaper Kullħadd. Committee members were also presented with another report into an ethical breach by former PN MP David Thake.

Tensions over parliament’s standards commissioner have run high among MPs in recent months, following a government decision to force its nominee into the role by changing the law.

Previously, a commissioner could only be appointed through a two-thirds majority. The change in the law allowed the government to appoint Joseph Azzopardi to the post through a simple majority vote.

Azzopardi was formerly chief justice. Before entering the judiciary, he had run for election as a Labour Party candidate.

In its statement decrying the standards committee’s lack of work, the PN said that it appeared Robert Abela’s government was now trying to limit the effectiveness of the committee’s work by preventing it from meeting.

Government representatives react

In a reaction, government representatives Jonathan Attard and Andy Ellul denied that they had, directly or indirectly hindered the committee from meeting.

They also pointed out that the PN had opposed the creation of a mechanism to break the deadlock in the appointment of a Standards Commissioner to facilitate the work of the committee. 

They also observed that the committee actually met on April 19 in a meeting with OSCE officials.