The Prime Minister was last night forced to accept the resignation of Malta’s ambassador to the EU after Nationalist backbencher Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando dropped a bombshell by voting in favour of the opposition motion of censure against Richard Cachia Caruana.

The motion was carried by 35 votes in favour and 33 against after another government MP, former transport minister Jesmond Mugliett, abstained.

The motion had claimed that Mr Cachia Caruana went behind Parliament’s back when he discussed with representatives of other countries how Malta could rejoin the Partnership for Peace. He has always strenuously denied this accusation.

Mr Cachia Caruana will be staying on in the post until his replacement is found. In his resignation letter he said he had served the country loyally since 2004. He had wanted to resign as soon as the opposition moved the motion but duty compelled him to stay on to answer questions from Parliament’s Foreign and European Affairs Committee.

This was the second major blow that the government has suffered in recent days after Parliament last month approved another opposition motion of no confidence in Home Affairs Minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici, who resigned immediately. That time it was Nationalist MP Franco Debono who voted with the opposition.

While yesterday Mr Mugliett had kept mum over his voting intentions, Dr Pullicino Orlando had declared he would be voting for the motion in his speech during the four-hour parliamentary debate that preceded the vote.

However, he stressed he would continue to back the government and the PM need not call a vote of confidence.

In a speech described by political observers as “a bolt from the blue”, Dr Pullicino Orlando fired a myriad broadsides at Mr Cachia Caruana, accusing him of ignoring democratic norms and being dis­respectful towards Parliament.

He claimed there were at least 10 Nationalist MPs who wanted to back the motion as they felt that Mr Cachia Caruana had exerted his influence for some of them to be removed or worse, had shown disdain for the democratic system. This was evidenced by the small number of Nationalist MPs who wished to speak on this motion, he said.

It was with a heavy heart, he declared, that he was choosing not to contest the next election for the party he had stood for all his life. But he had been forced into it by Mr Cachia Caruana, who used his media influence that stretched over 25 years to attack him.

Speaking outside Parliament last night, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi admitted he was surprised at the outcome as “we had the full support of the parliamentary group”.

The vote, he said, was motivated by personal interests.

He also described it as another example of how the opposition could go against the national interest and be motivated by political gain. Labour had launched a ferocious attack on a public official who was Malta’s permanent representative to the EU at a time when Malta and the Union were discussing issues of national importance.

“I have no choice but to accept Mr Cachia Caruana’s resignation. I have asked him to stay until his replacement is appointed soon.”

When asked if the government was sustainable he said it would be unless there was a vote of no-confidence.

That was not the view of opposition leader Joseph Muscat, who in a press conference said “Gonzi PN is in meltdown” and what had been witnessed last night was another government implosion.

He noted that Dr Gonzi had said in his speech that he viewed the motion as stating that he himself had betrayed his duties.

With the motion having been approved, Dr Gonzi now had to act on the basis of this declaration.

The Prime Minister was a failure and the government was no longer sustainable, he said, citing Mr Pullicino Orlando’s declaration that some 10 MPs were ready to vote with the Opposition motion.

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