A vote of confidence was approved last night, as expected, after a three-hour debate inside a packed Parliament.

If we get it wrong, we will get it very wrong- Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi insisted his government was stable and progressing on a path of vision while Opposition leader Joseph Muscat said the crisis would persist because Dr Gonzi could not keep his team together.

Dr Gonzi opened the debate by highlighting the global instability, mentioning the Occupy Wall Street movement, the UK riots, the Arab spring and the economic woes in Europe and beyond.

He said he had called this vote to ensure the people did not have any doubts about the stability of their government. While people protested all over the world due to austerity measures and poverty, people in Malta were protesting because the new transport service was not efficient enough.

In his speech, Labour leader Joseph Muscat said he was disappointed with the level of the government’s arguments, showing how cut off from reality it was by engaging in “surreal triumphalism”

The Prime Minister was proving to be weak, the government’s vision had been lost and there was no hope for the future.

“The country does not have a Prime Minister leading it but a party leader who could not even lead his own party,” he said, adding that he had a “defective majority”. He lashed out at Dr Gonzi for insinuating that electricity prices had to be hiked to create incentives for people to buy solar panels, and that those who could not afford the rates simply wanted to leave air-conditioners on all day. He repeated his promise to reduce prices but would wait to choose the strategy according to how the international situation developed.

Dr Gonzi closed the debate by saying the government did not have a defective majority but had the support of its parliamentary group in a clear vote it was not afraid to face. He had called the vote to raise awareness about the importance of making the right decisions for the country at a difficult time where “if we get it wrong, we will get it very wrong”, as other countries had done. It was important to send out a message of stability, in a world of instability, for the sake of thousands of workers.

Before the vote, Nationalist MP Franco Debono pointed out that the vote of confidence had been his suggestion. He agreed with Dr Gonzi that people had to be more aware of the international scenario but also that, within this scenario, it was even more important for those implementing reforms to be more diligent.

He said it was a pity that, while having to handle the country’s performance in the global climate, Dr Gonzi now had to also take care of public transport reform due to the shortcomings of those coordinating the reform. As he spoke, Dr Gatt shook his head but remained silent.

After the vote, Dr Gonzi told the press the task force he had set up was not a show of no-confidence in Dr Gatt but of how important the reform was for the government. He added that Dr Debono’s motion presented yesterday about justice reform was another opportunity for discussion.