MPs rack up €4,600 in fines for missing parliamentary sittings

MPs have been fined a total of €4,600 for skipping Parliament in a move that has bolstered attendance, Speaker of the House Anġlu Farrugia has told this newspaper. New rules governing parliamentary attendance were approved last year. MPs who are unable to provide justification for missing a parliamentary sitting are now being fined €50. The new rules were first applied for the final House sitting before the summer recess on July 27, 2016, which attracted nearly all MPs. The Speaker said Malta was the first EU country to introduce such fines, in the first comprehensive update of Parliament’s rules since the 1960s. He said that since the fines were implemented, attendance had improved.  Just over half of the 71 MPs had been fined by the Easter recess on April 12. Independent MP Marlene Farrugia has the highest bill. Dr Farrugia has been fined €550 for missing, without justification, a total of 11 sittings. In a comment to this website (see below) Dr Farrugia said most of the duties of a Parliamenterian can be carried out outside the Parliament building and outside Parliament hours. "I only attend Parliament when I can actively engage in productive work that needs to be carried...