comfortable, this is when corruption starts’, Dr Farrugia reiterates that a political correctness formula should be sought, a system whereby checks and balances are conducted on all politicians. “Citizens work and pay taxes and politicians should use citizens’ taxes in a meaningful and transparent manner. My role as Speaker is to promote transparency,” he says. “If there’s anything politicians should agree on, despite their political divergence, it should be that of political correctness,” Dr Farrugia adds. Dr Farrugia says that he views the House as one collective assembly while adding that he fully respects the rights of every MP since members of the House were elected by the people to represent the nation. This, he said, is irrespective whether the MP is the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition or a backbencher. “I said the same words during my opening speech when I was appointed Speaker and I mean it,” he says. Asked which were the most difficult of decisions he has had to execute since appointed Speaker, Dr Farrugia, who has given 14 rulings since his April appointment, said that there were two particular tough decisions: last week’s ruling and the ruling he gave following the kind of language that had been used by the Prime Minister towards PN MP Tonio Fenech. In May, Dr Farrugia had upheld a complaint by Mr Fenech following an exchange with the prime minister, saying that Dr Muscat could have made a better choice of words. He had delivered his ruling two-and-a-half hours after the sitting was suspended, with Mr Fenech demanding a retraction or apology from Dr Muscat. The exchange took place when Dr Muscat referred to a meeting which Mr Fenech had had with a delegation from the International Monetary Fund, speaking of ‘incitement’ by the Nationalist MP. Mr Fenech had denied any wrongdoing and demanded an apology. Questioned if he would admit fault in the event he would execute a wrong decision in terms of rulings, Dr Farrugia says that he has no problem in doing so. He points out that he is extremely cautious in every decision he takes, adding that it’s not always easy to take a decision when you have nobody to turn to for advice. “The decisions are based on my conscience; I know the expressions of my conscience come from an honest place within me,” he says. On the recently enacted Whistleblower Act, Dr Farrugia said that the debate leading to the enactment of the law was “healthy” and said that both sides of the House were well prepared for the debate, adding value to the discussion. Dr Farrugia was replying to question made by this newspaper on what successes parliament has achieved so far, at least since he has been appointed to oversee parliament. He described the Private Members’ Bill presented by PN MP Claudette Buttigieg recently as “positive”. The aim of the bill is to amend the provision of protection from discrimination provided for in the Constitution, adding protection against discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation. Asked if he misses his legal profession, Dr Farrugia
said that he couldn’t mix the two roles “in order to be able to exercise democracy to the full and dedicate his services to the one role, that of House President”. When asked which was the darkest patch he went throughout his political career, Dr Farrugia says: “Everyone knows which were my darkest days,” adding that he has listened to the advice of his wife Carmen who told him that there are three main issues one should forget about and move on: forget the past, the shady people you may have come across, and the amount of money you may have lost. Explaining further, Dr Farrugia says that “it’s useless dwelling on issues related to money, in my case for instance, how much money I may have lost dedicating my life to a party I was so attached to, hardly giving any importance to my profession”. Questioned whether he feels the Opposition has come to terms over the fact that he was appointed Speaker considering the fact that he formed part of Labour for such a long time, Dr Farrugia says: “The PN never objected to the appointment of my role; what it objected to is the way I was appointed.” The PN had expressed its dismay over how Dr Farrugia was appointed, slamming the government for having failed to consult with the Opposition before appointing him Speaker. Giving a walk-through of his overseas trips, he said that he was one of four speakers, along with European Parliament President Martin Schulz, to address the EU Speakers’ Conference held in April. He had called on the EU to urgently tackle the possibility of an uprising in Egypt. He points out that up to this day, nothing has been done at EU parliamentary level, despite his call, adding that I have not heard a word from Mr Schultz, an issue I raised with European Council President Herman van Rompuy while on his visit to Malta. “I had told Mr Van Rompuy that the EU shouldn’t turn its back on a credible country like Malta.”
Government plans to shift taxation from direct to indirect On 1 October, the Finance Ministry formally submitted to the European Commission an Economic Partnership Programme (EPP), together with a Report on Effective Action, which outline the Government’s plan to close 2013 with a general government deficit below 3%. In its report, the government speaks of plans to continue shifting taxation from direct to indirect over the medium term. The report says that further to the revisions in the income tax regime in recent years, the 2013 Budget provided for the widening of the income tax bands for single and joint tax computations, and for parents supporting minors who are not gainfully employed. However, this will be implemented gradually in a manner that will limit the expansionary impact on public finances which will amount to 0.17 per cent of GDP in 2014. For the period 2013 to 2016, the gradual losses from the revision in the income tax regime affecting direct taxation will be offset by similar gradual revisions in
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