The Speaker of the House of Representatives ruled this evening that the House Foreign Affairs Committee is free to regulate its own procedure for the hearings on the Opposition's censure motion against Richard Cachia Caruana.

In a ruling, Dr Michael Frendo said that the only restrictions imposed by the committee when it was assigned to consider the motion, were that Mr Cachia Caruana had to be given ample opportunity to be heard and to defend himself, and that the final vote on the motion would be taken by the Whole House on or before June 18, unless otherwise agreed.

Mr Speaker was asked to rule after the government and the opposition members of the committee yesterday disagreed on the order of witnesses to be heard by the committee.

The government MPs want to hear Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi first while the Opposition wants to hear Mr Cachia Caruana as the first witness.

The Opposition's motion criticises Mr Cachia Caruana for having - according to a 2004 document leaked by Wikileaks - held talks with Nato officials and discussed ways of reactivating Malta's membership of Partnership for Peace. The Opposition says Mr Cachia Caruana had been side-lining Parliament.

The government denies the claim and says the Opposition wrongly interpreted the document. It insists that Mr Cachia Caruana's talks were about Malta being given access to Nato documents.

Foreign Minister Tonio Borg yesterday presented a list of 21 witnesses who will be called by the committee, including Luxembourg Prime minister Jean-Claude Juncker and former Nato Secretary General Javier Solana.

When committee chairman Francis Zammit Dimech was about to request a vote within the committee on how witnesses should be heard, the Opposition had argued that the committee could not take such a vote.

In his ruling this evening, Speaker Michael Frendo said such a vote could be taken, but he urged both sides to seek consensus as much as possible.