Put your government to the test

Opposition Leader Joseph Muscat yesterday mocked the government’s “pantomime Cabinet reshuffle” and demanded an immediate vote of confidence in government.

“I call on the Prime Minister to urgently reconvene Parliament and put his government to the test with a vote of confidence,” Dr Muscat said, stressing this was a time when the country was in dire need of stability that “Dr Gonzi can no longer provide”.

Parliament is in recess and is not due to reconvene until January 18.

Dr Muscat dismissed the reshuffle announced in the morning as “musical chairs” with “no new talent and no substantial changes” having been made to the government’s executive branch.

News of a Cabinet reshuffle yesterday snowballed into a political crisis by the afternoon after Nationalist Party backbencher Franco Debono called for the Prime Minister’s resignation.

Cabinet reform has been on the cards since the Prime Minister’s announcement in mid-November that he was considering splitting the Ministry for Justice and Home Affairs, a request that had been made by Dr Debono.

Chris Said was sworn in as Justice Minister in the afternoon, with Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici retaining the home affairs portfolio.

Parliamentary secretaries Mario de Marco and Jason Azzopardi were also appointed ministers.

The reshuffle was met with dismay by Dr Debono, who decried the lack of fresh blood in Cabinet, likened the government to an “oligarchy” and said he would vote against the government in an eventual vote of confidence.

News of Dr Debono’s declaration, broken by timesofmalta.com, reached Dr Muscat towards the tail end of his press conference.

He paused briefly before sharing the news with the journalists present, going on to say that Dr Debono’s statements made it “all the more inevitable” for the government to call a vote of confidence without further ado.

The Prime Minister’s announcement that Cabinet members would be renouncing their €500 a week pay rise was also given short shrift by Dr Muscat, who dismissed the move as mere politicking.

“Lawrence Gonzi believes the weekly €500 rise is his by right and will take the money back immediately if he were to win the next election,” he said.

Cabinet had received over €1 million since 2008, when the controversial pay rise came into effect. “Give them back,” Dr Muscat demanded.

He criticised the government’s management of the national debt. Earlier this week, Labour had said figures released by the National Statistics Office showed how the national debt had overshot its 2011 projection by the end of November.

“The government has already failed its initial debt target. It’s time the Prime Minister came clean and told us what the European Commission’s reaction to these failed targets really is,” Dr Muscat said.

Although failed debt targets “might not be as eye-catching as Cabinet reshuffles”, Dr Muscat said the failure to reach austerity targets was of grave concern.