Interview | Sunday, 05 April 2009

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The sober backbencher

A national day for all, and the end of political party TV news bulletins – Nationalist MP CHARLÒ BONNICI says it is time for the country to grow up

At a time when the government’s backbench has become more restless than ever, with even the Nationalist candidates for the European Parliament elections openly questioning government policy, Charlò Bonnici – Member of Parliament, former journalist, and once-up-on-a-time head of the national Eurovision song board – remains a steadfast loyalist, defending the government’s position on illegal immigration, and also its refusal to refund VAT paid on car registration.
Little things keep him affirming his own ideas, however. Questioning the necessity of party TV stations for example, or calling on the government renege on its pre-electoral promise to scrap the TV licence fee claiming this would simply increase the station’s dependence on private advertising and sponsorships. In one of his recent speeches in parliament, Bonnici asked whether it was acceptable in this day and age for political parties to own TV stations in a way that they retain absolute control on their news bulletins.
But why pitch a question without giving an answer? Bonnici explains that since public broadcasting is on the agenda of the parliamentary select committee of which he is a member, he did not want to pronounce a definitive stand on this issue. “But the questions I raised were intended to stimulate a discussion in the country.”
Bonnici, himself a former head of news at Net TV, now expresses reservations on the content of news bulletins on party stations. Pointing out that everyone – journalists and business interests included – have their own biases, he says the present system has debilitated the credibility of Net and One, what he calls the PN and PL’s “armoured combat vehicles”.
“While in certain periods of the year they are less partisan, the dose of partisanship tends to increase as soon as an election approaches. I cannot reconcile myself to the idea that a political party controls a newsroom.”
Yet he insists the legacy of political party stations is not all negative. He even describes his role in setting up Net’s newsroom as an interesting period of his life in which he was allowed to experiment. “It would have been extremely unlikely that a private entrepreneur would have ventured in setting up private stations had the political parties not acted as the pioneers by indebting themselves to set up their stations.”
But he knows these stations have served their purpose, even if he is aware he faces an uphill struggle because the party grassroots would resist the disappearance of party news bulletins from the airwaves.
Neither does he want a unilateral decision by the PN to shed itself of its TV station. “We should do this through an agreement between both parties with the ultimate aim of strengthening democracy.”
What surely irks him is the Broadcasting Authority’s reasoning that imbalance on one political station, compensates for the imbalance on the rival political station. “It does not make sense that the BA regulates the editorial content on the PBS news while giving a free hand to political party stations. This is not fair. How can it allow both party stations to manipulate the news simply because they balance each other out? We should first and foremost protect the citizen who watches the news from manipulation.”
In the same way that party ownership of TV stations erodes the credibility of their news content, Bonnici also expresses his concern on the dependence of the PBS newsroom on adverts. He gives a hypothetical example of how dangerous this dependence can become: “Let’s just imagine that a financial institution that gives daily adverts to the PBS newsroom is embroiled in a financial scandal involving its executives. Won’t this create a difficulty for the people running the news and station? Will they allow journalists to investigate a story that could endanger the source of revenue for the station?”
He says he is perplexed by the fact that PBS as a whole gets 80% of its funding from adverts. “If we want PBS to serve as the guiding light for other stations we need a new formula to ensure the national station is not overtly dependent on adverts.”
But does this not require more funding from the state? Bonnici says the best solution to guarantee the independence of state TV from commercial interests is through TV licences – something the PN promised to remove, in an electoral pledge in 2008.
“We should rethink our (the PN’s) position because when people pay their TV licences they are paying a tax to safeguard the independence of the national station,” he says, comparing it to MaltaToday’s decision to increase its price.
“When the owners of MaltaToday and Illum raised the price of their newspaper they appealed to their readers to pay something more in order to safeguard their track record of independence. We should say the same thing to the people. It is the only way to ensure that the national station is independent from the state and private interests.”
Bonnici praises the PBS newsroom for becoming more adventurous and independent in the past months. But how far can one expect independence when the Head of News and the chairman of the editorial board are handpicked appointees?
“Politicians are there to take decisions. I do not exclude there could be a wider consensus on such appointments, but one cannot expect a national broadcaster to be 100% independent as it functions under the government of the day.”
But he insists that the proof of the pudding is in the eating. “Have we not seen the PBS newsroom featuring news stories which surely do not favour the agenda of the government? I can mention examples. PBS had a leading story on the growing number of firms opting for a four-day week which included an interview with the GWU. That is what their role should be… they should grill the government and the opposition.”
David Agius – government whip – recently declared he is “expecting 100% consultation on the choice of EU Commissioner, unlike what happened with the choice of president.” Does Bonnici agree?
“I understand that certain decisions cannot be taken through wide consultation especially when for strategic reasons secrecy is needed.”
But how did he feel when news on George Abela’s appointment was divulged to the media before a meeting of the parliamentary group that was held to discuss this issue? “I think we should have learned of this before the newspapers. But I understand what led the Prime Minister to take this approach.”
He also expresses his full agreement with the appointment of George Abela as President. “The Prime Minister is taking concrete steps to make this country mature. A lot more has to be done. Choosing one national day would be another step in this direction.”
But Bonnici recognises that choosing one national day would be a difficult task – he himself has no doubt it should be Independence Day. “Independence day should be our national day because Freedom Day would have been impossible had Malta not become independent.”
Bonnici says it will be very difficult to see unity amongst the Maltese people on either Independnce or Day “because too much harm has been done throughout the years”.
He is also open to Frank Portelli and Lino Spiteri’s proposal to make 8 September (Victory Day) Malta’s national day. “It could be a second best choice which could be acceptable to all. But surely it is not the day when the Maltese nation was born. The Maltese nation was born on Independence Day.”
Prior to his parliamentary career, Bonnici was Attard’s deputy mayor. He bodes that the reform of local councils will address important issues, like the role of executive secretaries who are responsible for much of the day-to-day work in local councils. “We have to ensure that the independence of executive secretaries is enhanced. They are the council’s CEOs and should be protected from political interference.”
Does he see speed cameras as cash cows for local councils? “The councils only take a small cut from the system which includes many stakeholders. There are the companies who install them, the joint committee and other agents. There are too many people involved.”
Bonnici expresses his disagreement with the recent decision to install several speed cameras at one go. “I understand that speed cameras are needed for more security but I do not agree that the decision to install them at one go.”
Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando – Bonnici’s colleague on the government’s backbench – has openly questioned the government’s immigration policy and has gone as far as proposing that illegal immigrants are towed back to Libya. While recognising Pullicino Orlando’s right to express his opinion, he does not mince his words in deriding such a proposal. “Such a proposal is not rational. It is also illegal.”
He refers to last Sunday’s tragedy when 237 immigrants were reported missing after a boat carrying them capsized.
“Just imagine what would happen if a boat is towed back to Libya and it drowns. If Malta accepts such a proposal and a boat drowns, such a tragedy will rest on the conscience of those who proposed such a measure and those accepting it. I will never vote for something like this.”
Neither is he convinced by the proposals made by the Opposition leader. “The flaw in Joseph Muscat’s argument is that while he is speaking against illegality and rightly so, he went on to propose that Malta should not abide with international law.”
He also disagrees with the use of Malta’s veto on issues unrelated to immigration. “We should not refrain from taking a strong stand on this issue. By all means we should stand firm with other European countries. But we cannot use our veto capriciously like blocking the EU’s budget because they are not helping us enough on immigration.”
According to Bonnici convincing other European countries to share Malta’s immigration burden is no easy task. Once when he attended a meeting of chairpersons of foreign affairs committees instead of Michael Frendo, Bonnici tried to raise immigration in a discussion on security. “Since Malta is the backdoor to Europe from Africa, I felt that immigration was an important issue. But most of the discussion focused on global issues like energy security, Iran’s nuclear ambitions and the future of NATO. For them security has a different meaning.”
Still, according to Bonnici, by bringing other countries to sign a pact on immigration, Malta has made great progress in persuading the other 26 EU nations that immigration is a central issue. Ultimately, for Bonnici the immigration issue boils down to respecting human dignity. “Immigrants are humans like us. I am very concerned on the growth of xenophobia. It scares me.”
Is the PN trying to spread the net as far wide as possible by fielding candidates who openly criticise their government in their bid to become MEPs? “The PN is an open party. Surely this is not an organised strategy. What happens is that candidates start meeting people and they start voicing their concerns. It is a natural process”
But he disagrees with Roberta Metsola Tedesco Triccas’s claim that the government should give back the €50 million it had collected to those who paid VAT on car registration. “It is ridiculous to say that even if the courts pronounce themselves in the government’s favour, it should still give a refund… this would be a disservice to the country.”
Bonnici himself had raised his concern on the impact of a road passing behind the Danish Village to replace the existing Ghadira road. But now he is satisfied with the government’s decision to present three different applications to MEPA, which includes the option of retaining the existing road. “We could not have done anything better. We should leave the planning process to take place. By presenting different options we have shown that the government has not decided alone.”
Before joining the political field, Bonnici chaired the board responsible for Malta’s Eurovision song entry. Was it wise to choose Chiara once again as Malta’s representative, for the third time? “I am sure she deserves it. Her product has been tried and tested successfully… Although I do not follow the Eurovision as much as I used to… I wish her well.”

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