Debono meeting ‘cordial’ says PM

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi yesterday refused to answer any questions on Tuesday evening’s encounter with dissident backbencher Franco Debono (picture), saying only that the meeting was “cordial”.

Dr Debono too refused to speak about the meeting when contacted yesterday.

The two had not met since a January 22 encounter at the Prime Minister’s office in Castille.

Sources said the meeting was planned and had been scheduled for last week, before last Saturday’s vote confirming Dr Gonzi as leader of the Nationalist Party. However, Dr Debono was indisposed and the meeting did not take place.

The vote was forced on Dr Gonzi after Dr Debono withdrew his support for the government in Parliament and had declared that he was prepared to work with anyone but Dr Gonzi.

Dr Debono eventually abstained in a vote of no confidence by the Labour Party, depriving the government of its one-seat majority. The motion was defeated with the Speaker’s casting vote.

In refusing to comment on the outcome of the meeting, Dr Debono said his speech in Parliament on Monday evening was all he had to say on the matter.

His address in the House followed Dr Gonzi’s concluding speech at the Nationalist party’s general council meeting on Sunday in which he acknowledged that his government had lost touch with the people.

In Parliament, Dr Debono said that in view of Dr Gonzi’s admission that mistakes had been made by the government, the formula for the future should be based on the phrase “li tkisser, sewwi” (fix what you break).