Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi may be facing a potentially embarrassing vote in Parliament on the ill-fated public transport reform later this week but there was no hint of this yesterday when he addressed party supporters.

Muscat tried to hide the scandal in which he encouraged a journalist to betray her employer. This is morally and ethically incorrect

Not once did the bus service, its problems and the Opposition’s no confidence motion in Transport Minister Austin Gatt crop up during Dr Gonzi’s address at the Nationalist Party club in Paola.

PN backbencher Franco Debono has said he will abstain and if this happens Dr Gatt’s fate will rest with the Speaker’s casting vote. Dr Gatt has said that he will resign if the vote passes.

At the end of the political meeting and in between taking photos with enthusiastic party activists, Dr Gonzi told his aides that journalists’ questions had to be related to the issues raised by him.

In his address, Dr Gonzi referred to a number of reforms undertaken by his government as a sign of the country’s willingness to change and which earned it plaudits from credit rating agencies.

When asked by The Times why he had omitted the public transport reform from his speech, Dr Gonzi said the “good certificate” awarded by ratings agency Standard and Poor’s confirmed that all reforms where government removed unnecessary subsidies, “including the public transport reform”, enabled the country to achieve positive results.

However, Dr Gonzi simply walked away when asked what would happen if the no confidence motion was only defeated with the help of the Speaker’s casting vote.

The Prime Minister has until now avoided answering direct questions about Dr Debono’s declaration and the potential embarrassment this may cause the government.

The PN executive committee is meeting for a third time tonight to discuss Friday’s parliamentary vote. Last week the executive was regaled by an almost two-hour-long presentation by Dr Gatt and Dr Debono’s behaviour during that meeting led many to believe he had softened his stand.

However, Dr Debono yesterday did not rule out abstaining when asked about the matter by The Sunday Times. “I think party loyalty also means a minister should shoulder political responsibility,” he insisted, keeping the cards to his chest.

The no-confidence motion comes days before the Budget is presented and in the middle of a eurozone crisis, about which Dr Gonzi spoke at length yesterday.

To underscore the gravity of the situation and the importance of last week’s eurozone summit that came up with a solution to the debt crisis, Dr Gonzi three times pointed out that the summit dragged on until 4 a.m.

Turning to the people in front of him he said the eurozone crisis was about the jobs of “your children, your husbands and your wives”.

He then took a dig at Labour leader Joseph Muscat, adding that a year ago he was criticising the government’s reforms and praising Cyprus.

“A year later Lawrence Gonzi’s government gave him an answer,” Dr Gonzi said with reference to Cyprus’ credit downgrade as opposed to Malta’s, which was retained by at least two ratings agencies.

He then hit out at Dr Muscat for what he described as the “scandalous” contents of an e-mail exchange with an RTK journalist that was made public by the PN media last week. The journalist was later sacked by her employers.

“Muscat tried to hide the scandal in which he encouraged a journalist to betray her employer. This is morally and ethically incorrect but I have no time to waste on these things because I have a country to run,” Dr Gonzi said to applause.

He then uttered what could possibly be the PN’s forthcoming battle cry: seriousness, prudence and determination.

“Let the waves come crashing because we will weather the storm,” Dr Gonzi concluded to resounding applause.

In a statement the Labour Party accused Dr Gonzi of being “cut off” from the reality.

“It is very meaningful that Lawrence Gonzi ignored the concerns of thousands of people who are suffering as a result of the public transport fiasco just days before Parliament debates a motion of no confidence in one of the Prime Minister’s most trusted ministers,” the Labour Party said.

ksansone@timesofmalta.com