Nationalist backbencher Franco Debono is ready to compromise on today’s deadline for the Prime Minister to split the Justice and Home Affairs Ministry portfolios, The Times has learnt.
Dr Debono had warned he would no longer support the government in Parliament if the Prime Minister did not split the portfolios by year’s end.
There has been no indication so far of what Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi planned to do but sources said Dr Debono was ready to compromise on the time frame.
“He is willing to accept a two-week extension into January giving the Prime Minister some more time to make the decision,” the sources said.
Dr Debono is expected back in Malta today after a short break in Rome but there is little to suggest he will change his mind on withdrawing his support to the government unless the portfolios are split.
Contacted yesterday Dr Debono said any questions about the issue should be directed to the Prime Minister and to Justice and Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici instead.
He insisted he never imposed the end-of-year deadline, insisting it was a promise made to him by Dr Gonzi at the beginning of December.
The MP’s threat to withdraw parliamentary support risks robbing the government of its one-seat majority but, serious as the matter may be, people in Dr Debono’s constituency hardly seem to understand the issue at stake.
The Times yesterday took to the streets in Qrendi and Żurrieq, two localities in the fifth electoral district from where Dr Debono was elected for the first time in 2008.
Most people approached refused to comment or claimed not to know anything about the issue. Two men who were inside the bar of a band club in Qrendi said that the situation had reached a point where the Prime Minister could “no longer be led by the nose”.
They insisted an election was the only way out of this impasse, with one of them arguing that, even if this issue were resolved, another one involving Dr Debono would crop up at some stage.
“The Prime Minister has no choice but to go for an election... It is either him or Franco,” one of the men said, offering little sympathy for the MP.
Another man in Żurrieq was more supportive of Dr Debono, insisting the issue at stake was a minor one and could be solved.
“We are patient with Franco Debono and he should be patient with the Prime Minister but Franco is a good boy and that is why this has happened to him,” he said.
In Dr Debono’s hometown, Għaxaq, all the people approached were reluctant to talk about the matter.
It was not surprising because a group of men with diverse political backgrounds outside one of the locality’s band clubs said they knew Dr Debono and his family well.
Some said they felt sorry for the MP while most said the issue should be resolved between Dr Debono and the Prime Minister.
The small village does not form part of the fifth district, denying Dr Debono an electoral base.
An elderly man said he did not know whom to believe but noted that it was not right for Dr Debono to topple the government when a number of projects would come to fruition in 2012 and 2013.
ksansone@timesofmalta.com