Josef Bonnici ok, Mario Vella no

It is quite incredible that the the Nationalist Party is calling the nomination of a new Governor of the Central Bank of Malta “partisan” based simply on the fact that Dr Mario Vella was a member of the administration of the Labour Party in the nineties.

One just needs to remind the Opposition that the outgoing Governor is a former PN Minister. Faced with that fact, today’s Prime Minister never stooped so low to denigrate Professor Josef Bonnici’s nomination. Actually, Professor Bonnici showed how one can rise above partisan politics and it is clear that Dr Vella will follow suit.

With regards to the hastily tabled request by the Opposition to have the nominee heard by Parliament, one wonders why the Opposition did not table it before since it was known to all that the post of Governor would become vacant on 30 June 2016.

Instead of a half-baked proposal, government has already announced it is preparing comprehensive legislation providing for Parliamentary hearings for regulators and other office holders, something the previous administration of which the Leader of the Opposition formed part of failed to do for 25 years