Another opportunity goes begging

Abstract

In December, the two main political parties' fundraising marathons once again relieved people of some of their disposable income to finance their causes. While healthy democracies need political parties to function, the latest round of fundraising may be seen as another opportunity gone begging. Either of the two parties could have taken the lead to put its money where its mouth is by introducing a system whereby any donations above a certain reasonable threshold are publicised and all donations are audited. During the campaign for the European Parliament elections, I had called on the PN to start such a system. The call went unheeded. This might sound like a cliche but the only way to shed light on the perceived close links between business and politics in Malta is to publicise donations, something both parties seem too coy to do - who will take the lead in 2010?