No great fall off a wall

The Prime Minister has created a problem for himself. Not unwittingly. Nobody plays political chess unless they think deeply. Especially when one is the head of an unravelling government, anxious, if not desperate, to put things back together again to have a fighting chance at the next general election.

In other words, what Lawrence Gonzi is playing is not a Humpty Dumpty game. He did not fall off a wall - he pushed others and jumped after them. And he did so determined to put it all together again, but using different ingredients.

It is not only that Louis Galea and John Dalli are the two last remaining members of the trusted Eddie Fenech Adami team. Though both of them did not make it, for one reason or another, when they vied for the leadership of their party, they are considered to be the best remaining elements in the Nationalist Party.

As a matter of fact, they were considered to be simply the best even when other very seasoned hands were still around. Now they have been packed off into luxurious exile, never to get back on the political wall again.

I believe that the line that each of the two Nationalist stalwarts "expressed interest" in the exalted position offered to them is pure PN spin.

The EU positions the two men will be filling are attractive enough. Not merely in money and pension terms. An EU commissioner, especially with the portfolio President Jose Manuel Baroso allocated to Dalli, is as top a post one can get.

Likewise, to be a member of the EU Court of Auditors. When I turned down that position, offered to me by Fenech Adami in 2004, friends and foes thought I was mad. In that role Galea will end his career on a high, even though he did not make to President as many thought he would.

That notwithstanding, I do not believe either of the two heavyweight politicians sought a departure to Brussels (Dalli) and Luxembourg (Galea). Dalli is in his element as a Cabinet minister. With his technocratic and financial background the health and social ministry fitted him like a glove.

Galea's days as a minister and MP are over. To the astonishment of many, the Nationalist veteran lost his seat in 2008. But as Speaker he was acquiring a strong reputation.

Both Galea and Dalli were available to Gonzi to consult and tap into the experience of party elders who are still young at heart and mentally. Yet he dispatched them to the EU. He offered that role to Dalli. And similarly to Galea. When he did so, probably to their surprise, they said, well, umm, interesting. That's where the PN spin that Galea was 'interested' in the position came from.

Knowing Galea in our years in politics on opposing sides but understanding each other's moves, I'm certain he did not volunteer to be court auditor.

He will be able to do a good job, for sure, for few politicians I know can master a brief as well as he. But it couldn't have been something he was eyeing.

I know Dalli even better. We confronted each other in the same constituency and over the same portfolio for years on end. We learned to read each other's political minds. He, too, was not eyeing Brussels. He had a challenge, at Health in particular, and he was savouring it.

For his own good reasons Gonzi cleared the deck of old friendly foes. What happens now? Not only has he lost two excellent counsellors - they will be around, but will not be the same.

He has opened a can of worms. He will try to keep his ministerial changes to a minimum. Yet to appoint, he will disappoint. Strong prediction has it that Mario de Marco will be elevated to inister for Tourism and Mepa.

He has earned the role. Joe Cassar will rise from parliamentary secretary, Health, to minister of the same portfolio. Nobody begrudges him that. Chris Said will become Minister for Social Policy and will carry his existing duties as parliamentary secretary with him. Everybody likes him. Nevertheless more than a few will point out he's a newcomer.

Some will wonder, for instance, what Jason Azzopardi did not do well to be passed over so easily. He is serving his second term in Parliament, having increased his electoral votes very significantly. And no one has said he is not doing a very good job as parliamentary secretary to Finance Minister Tonio Fenech.

Expect, too, much grumbling on the backbenches. The Prime Minister will promote two or three to parliamentary secretaries. Yet whoever they happen to be, there will be others with faces longer than a barge pole. Along with the unhappy former ministers languishing as backbenchers, with nothing on their idle hands but time, they will not raise the glum mood among government MPs.

They will be closely watched by the Prime Minister's 'coterie' of Swiss Guards made suddenly famous through a backbencher's exposure. But the open grumbling, a rebellion of spirit if not of House votes, will continue.

Things are not about to get better for Gonzi.