Few people believed the Prime Minister when he said political turmoil was a closed chapter after the government won a vote of confidence on Monday. Kurt Sansone asks why.

Even as he declared that political turmoil was a closed chapter, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi restrained his emotions after winning Monday’s vote of confidence.

Franco Debono can be relied on to be unreliable, reckless and brooding

He managed a smile to the waiting cameras as he addressed the media in the Palace courtyard after the vote. But there was no elation.

On the steps behind Dr Gonzi, Nationalist MPs gathered in a show of unity but missing from the lot was backbencher Franco Debono, who sparked the turmoil that led to the vote.

His absence from the line-up was significant and undermined the business-as-usual façade Dr Gonzi put forward. Few were convinced the chapter was closed.

The peace was bought but, according to Mark-Anthony Falzon, head of the University of Malta’s sociology department, the question is for how long.

“Franco Debono can be relied on to be unreliable, reckless and brooding,” he said.

It was not a matter concerning a tangible and specific problem between Dr Debono and his party that had been solved, he added. “The issue is the person himself and he is still very much there.”

Prof. Falzon sympathised with the Prime Minister on the Debono saga. However, he felt the “chapter is closed” comment was offensive towards Carm Mifsud Bonnici, who was forced to resign as Home Affairs Minister last week after his colleague Dr Debono voted with the opposition in a censure motion.

It cost him his job, he added, hardly a trivial matter considering the hard work to achieve a ministerial post. And Dr Debono would carry on as normal, “appeased by the Nationalist Party and generally throwing his weight around”.

“The Prime Minister seems to have decided that this hefty price is worth paying to avoid an early election but I’m not so sure,” Prof. Falzon said.

Former Labour Prime Minister Alfred Sant, who had to face his fair share of internal dissent between 1996 and 1998, said the PN parliamentary group was not united and the experience of the past three years had “clearly showed this”. Dr Sant would not be drawn into commenting on what could happen in the next few months. “I will not engage in crystal ball gazing.”

Alternattiva Demokratika home affairs spokesman Carmel Cacopardo, a former PN official, did not doubt political problems still lay ahead. “It will never be a closed chapter because only an election will close this chapter,” Mr Cacopardo said.

The method was now established, he added, and Dr Debono would speak up again if something was not to his liking.

Mr Cacopardo believed it was a tactical mistake for the Prime Minister not to put on the agenda Dr Debono’s private member’s motion on justice and police reform.

“Franco’s motion should have been discussed before the opposition’s and that would have allowed the criticism to be made with possibly a different outcome,” he said.

His suspicion though is that Dr Gonzi wanted to call the backbencher’s bluff. “Franco did not flinch or give two hoots about voting to remove Mifsud Bonnici.”

On Monday, Dr Debono said he had no regrets on the way he voted to oust Dr Mifsud Bonnici. But as the Prime Minister survived his third confidence vote in six months, it did little to allay concerns over the Administration’s ability to run the country serenely.

According to academic Carmen Sammut, chairman of the Labour Party’s Fondazzjoni Ideat, a political think-tank, issues of urgency were not being addressed.

“I want to know why people aged 38 will have no adequate pension or what the cost of a Greek default will be on my country but, instead, the Prime Minister has been reduced to discussing whether this chapter of political turmoil is over.”

She does not believe the chapter is closed and the political uncertainty has simply fuelled an election campaign mentality without knowing when the election will be held.

For the past three years, Dr Debono acted as a coalition partner with a list of demands rather than a member of the governing party. On Monday, he even described the ousting of Dr Mifsud Bonnici as a historical moment as Parliament regained its role as the country’s highest institution.

Has this political jousting changed the way politics is done forever?

Philosopher Joe Friggieri, a former Nationalist MEP candidate, does not think so.

What has happened over the past years, he said, was “extraordinary by any standards”.

“At the moment, we have a truce. There may be another flare-up soon, followed by another ceasefire. But that’s not the normal pattern of Maltese politics. Mercifully, we’ll have a lull of hostilities in summer,” Prof. Friggieri said.

He had no qualms about the unique nature of what has happened. “It doesn’t fit the plot and is not likely to happen again after the next election.”

When the election will be held is another matter altogether.