Franco Debono will vote with the government on a crucial Budget Bill in Parliament on Wednesday, the MP told The Sunday Times yesterday.

Don’t blame me for keeping the House and the country in suspense- Franco Debono

A parliamentary defeat on the Budget Implementation Bill would have forced the Prime Minister to call an early election, which had been expected by some.

Contacted yesterday, Dr Debono said he would be voting in line with his fellow party MPs – which was consistent with the way he had given the thumbs up to the Budget last November.

“I would have been inconsistent if I didn’t vote with the government,” was the MP’s reply when asked whether his decision contradicted his highly critical statements of the administration.

However, Dr Debono did not want to commit himself on the vote concerning the setting up of a Special Purpose Vehicle for the financing of the City Gate project, also slated for Wednesday.

“And in any case where are the other MPs? Don’t they represent the people as well?

“I think I did my utmost to point out serious defects in our political system, but I cannot change everything on my own.”

He pointed fingers at House Business Committee chairman Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici for postponing a date for the crucial Budget vote, including a motion censuring the minister himself.

“Don’t blame me for keeping the House and the country in suspense,” he said.

The country has tried to guess Dr Debono’s intentions since the Prime Minister announceda vote to sanction the Budget on May 9.

Parliament has not had a division vote since the ‘no-confidence’ debate on January 26, when Dr Debono abstained, forcing the Speaker to use his casting vote.

Late last year, he also abstained on a vote of no-confidence in Transport Minister Austin Gatt, following the highly criticised public transport reform.

Dr Debono had told the Prime Minister he would not accept a vote on the Budget Implementation Bill before pending motions on justice and home affairs are discussed in the House.

The opposition presented a motion calling for an immediate debate and the House later agreed that a vote on May 30 will determine whether to censure Dr Mifsud Bonnici for the way he ran the ministry.

Dr Debono yesterday declined to comment on his voting intentions, but the indications are that he will probably vote in favour of the PL motion.

Yet both the votes of no-confidence in the minister and the Special Purpose Vehicle would not constitutionally rattle the government’s existence if they failed to go the Nationalist Party’s way.

Even those who criticise my methods agree that proposals for reform I have pushed are valid and essential

Dr Debono shrugged off accusations that he was a power-hungry MP who intended to humiliate his own government.

“Even those who might criticise my methods are in complete agreement that my proposals for reform I have pushed are valid and essential. I think there’s broad national consensus about these reforms. The methods used are proportional to the urgency.”

Dr Debono had moved a 22-point motion for reform in justice and home affairs and has steered several initiatives since he gained a seat in the March 2008 general election.

The Nationalist MP has campaigned strongly for constitutional and parliamentary reform, was behind activating a law granting arrested people the right to consult their lawyer and campaigned for and subsequently tasked with drawing up legislation on political party financing.

He also conceived the committee for consolidation and codification of laws and is widely believed to have forced Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi to split up the justice and home affairs ministry.

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