Clear guidelines about political advertising will be enacted following a damning report by the Standards Commissioner which found Minister Carmelo Abela guilty of misusing €7,000 of taxpayer money for self-promotion.

Lovin Malta wrote to Prime Minister Robert Abela to see whether he would be following the Standards Commissioner’s suggestion and demanding that Abela refunds the money.

In his replies, a spokesman for the Office of the Prime Minister said a decision would have to be taken by the parliamentary committee for standards.

“In this case, the Standards Commissioner’s opinion delved into an area in which there are currently no guidelines,” the spokesman said.

“This is why the government will be drawing up clear guidelines to avoid this subjectivity. This is part of the reform process this government is undertaking to raise good governance to the next level,” he added.

Abela’s predecessor Joseph Muscat had made a similar pledge back in April 2018 to create clear guidelines for government social media advertising. These never materialised.

Two years later, the Standards Commissioner had found “widespread misuse” of taxpayer money by ministers on Facebook and proposed guidelines which the government claimed to have adopted.

What do you make of this pledge?