Debono keeps his party guessing

The Nationalist Party executive will meet again tomorrow evening in an attempt to avoid a potentially embarrassing situation as backbencher Franco Debono refuses to rule out abstaining in Friday’s vote ofno confidence in the Transport Minister.

This is about a reform, a major reform, but also about the way our democracy functions

Public transport reform is the only item on the meeting’s agenda and will continue on last week’s encounter which saw a detailed presentation by Austin Gatt, whose political future could be in the balance if Dr Debono abstains on the opposition motion.

If Dr Debono does abstain, the Speaker would have to use his casting vote given the government’s slender one-seat majority.

Although during last Monday’s executive meeting Dr Debono gave his colleagues the impression that he was “softening up” because of the way he spoke following Dr Gatt’s extensive presentation on the reform, he refused to answer questions when approached by The Times on Tuesday.

Contacted yesterday, Dr Debono kept his cards to his chest, but indicated he may still abstain.

“While it is true that the minister admitted political responsibility for the public transport mess, two days after I had declared I was going to abstain in the parliamentary no confidence vote, we are now witnessing a reform of the service, patching the reform by means of an overhaul, possibly indicating a completely wrong attitude to the reform.

“One must not forget the taxpayer forked out some €55 million for this reform, which ended up causing a public outcry from commuters,” he added.

Asked what he was expecting, Dr Debono said: “One would expect to see the established and accepted political practices in Western parliamentary democracies, including those of all other EU countries, in line with the constitutional doctrine of individual ministerial responsibility.”

When asked what his reaction would be if Dr Gatt tendered his resignation and it was refused by the Prime Minister, Dr Debono said: “That would complicate the scenario for the government.”

He said if this happened, Dr Gatt would have shouldered his responsibility in line with individual ministerial responsibility. With the Prime Minister’s decision to turn it down, it would have developed into “collective political responsibility, which means it would be the responsibility of the whole government rather than just one minister.

“I think party loyalty also means a minister should shoulder political responsibility not to further embarrass the whole government. This is about a reform, a major reform, but also about the way our democracy functions.”

It is unclear whether any attempt had been made, within the party structures, to convince him to vote with the government.

However, he has publicly denied there was any form of pressure for him to toe the party line except for ‘psychological pressure’ from fellow MPs who are clearly not on his side.

Sources close to the party spoke about the possibility of amendments to Labour’s resignation motion, which would appease Dr Debono, while officially and publicly admitting political responsibility for what happened.

During last Monday’s Nationalist Party Executive meeting, Dr Gatt on a number of occasions said he was shouldering political responsibility for the deficiencies in the new system.

He also gave a detailed analysis of Arriva’s shortcomings, presenting a ‘before and after’ picture of what Arriva promised and what it delivered.

Dr Debono may not even be present for tomorrow’s meeting due to personal commitments since a family member is currently recovering from surgery.

He said he had informed the party of this and invited the party to hold the meeting last week, but would do his utmost to attend.

mxuereb@timesofmalta.com