Election looms closer
Gonzi raps Labour’s ‘guillotine motion’
After a week of uncertainty, the government is expected to face a motion of no confidence in Parliament on Thursday as the Labour Party yesterday upped the ante in a day characterised by a number of twists and turns.
This never happened under my premiership
The eventful day started with an announcement by Labour leader Joseph Muscat on TVAM, a breakfast show on TVM, that the opposition would go ahead and move a motion of no confidence in the government.
A few hours later, Labour deputy leader Anġlu Farrugia went to Parliament and presented two motions to the Clerk of the House.
The first motion, a simple two liner, says the House has no confidence in the government. The second, a procedural one, asks for the no confidence motion to be debated between 9 a.m. and noon on Thursday with a vote taken immediately afterwards.
Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi is facing his sternest crisis yet after government backbencher Franco Debono withdrew his support, effectively robbing the Administration of its one-seat majority in Parliament.
Dr Gonzi had until yesterday refused to seek a vote of confidence in Parliament but Labour’s decision accelerated matters.
The motion of no confidence prompted Dr Gonzi to cancel his official visits to Tunisia and Qatar next week. He was scheduled to be away between Monday and Thursday, a trip that was heavily criticised by Labour in the face of the unfolding political crisis.
Addressing journalists while visiting the Freeport headquarters of Medserv, an oil and gas services company, Dr Gonzi said the motion would be debated and the matter resolved.
He criticised what he described as Labour’s “guillotine motion” to restrict the debate to three hours.
“Restricting the time of a debate is something that has never happened under my premiership,” Dr Gonzi said.
Labour’s response came a couple of hours later when in a brief press conference Dr Muscat said the time allocated for the debate was equivalent to that allocated when Parliament discussed a motion of confidence in the government presented by Dr Gonzi last November.
However, Dr Muscat proposed holding a 12-hour debate, starting at 9 a.m. today, with a vote taken soon after 9 p.m. and challenged the Prime Minister to take up the offer.
“If Dr Gonzi takes up the challenge the party whips can meet and the matter settled by Saturday (today),” Dr Muscat said.
The opposition is accusing the government of creating more instability by prolonging the crisis.
Dr Debono has repeatedly said he would vote against the government if a motion of no confidence was presented.
Additional reporting Matthew Xuereb.