Adds reaction by Joseph Muscat -
The government will nominate a Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives this week following the resignation of Carmelo Abela, the Prime Minister said today.
Replying to questions in a Radio 101 interview, Dr Gonzi said the appointment of Labour MP Carmelo Abela at the beginning of this legislature had been a sign of good will by the government, and Mr Abela's resignation was a loss for the nation.
Dr Gonzi hit out at the Opposition's behaviour in Parliament and said that its move to request a vote when it knew that Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando was abroad showed that it did not seek the best interests of the country.
Dr Gonzi said the government was open to suggestions by the Opposition on the person to be appointed Deputy Speaker, but Dr Muscat, rather than contacting him, had gone to Australia.
What had taken place in Parliament in the past few days showed that the Opposition could not be trusted, and therefore all votes would henceforth be taken on Wednesdays at 1 p.m., Dr Gonzi said. Should ministers need to be abroad on Wednesdays, Parliament would not sit.
Palumbo to employ 300 at shipyard
Dr Gonzi referred to the allegations made this week in Parliament by Dr Muscat about attempts at bribery during the call for tenders for the privatisation of the superyachts facility and said that he had referred the matter to the police as soon as he learned about it.
Dr Muscat could have done the same, but he didn't, Dr Gonzi observed.
The Prime Minister said that Palumbo, which is taking over the ship repair facilities, would initially employ 300 workers. Some 800 had applied to work there.
This, Dr Gonzi said, was the opening of a new chapter for the dockyard. Rather than absorbing subsidies, the dockyard would start contributing to the economy.
EU education programmes
Questioned on the suspension of EU funds for educational programmes, Dr Gonzi said an inquiry had been set up to avoid a repetition, and he stressed that no fraud was being alleged. The inquiry would establish what had happened and if this whole issue could have been avoided had EU requests been met on time.
Should anyone be found not to have done his duty, the proper action would be taken, Dr Gonzi said. But one had to consider everything. For example, Dr Gonzi said, the EU may have demanded the recruitment of more people for capacity-building purposes, but this did not happen in order to save funds. But one would have to see the outcome of the inquiry. He pointed out, however, that the EU was only complaining that some information it had sought was not given on time, Dr Gonzi said.
Replying to other questions, Dr Gonzi said it was Malta's duty, as a member of the eurozone, to help Greece. He explained that the situation in Greece was very different from that of Malta. Greece had a much higher deficit to GDP ratio than Malta, and whereas the Greek debt was with banks in other countries, most of the Malta government's borrowing was domestic.
Power station
During the interview, Dr Gonzi defended the government's actions on the power station. He said that the power station extension would use the same fuel as was used at present, but because the technology would be more modern, emissions would be lower and well within EU standards. The government was however committed to using alternative, cleaner, fuel once this was viable.
Furthermore the government was also investing €150 million for an undersea cable to the power grid in Europe, removing the need for another turbine at Delimara.
During the interview Dr Gonzi said that British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg had written to him to explain that his reference to Malta as being the most centralised country in the EU was not meant to show disrespect but was only motivated by the size of the country.
Joseph Muscat's reaction
In a reaction, Opposition leader Joseph Muscat in a statement said the tenders bribery allegation was made to the Office of the Prime Minister eight months ago but the police were only called in last week. This was not a responsible way of dealing with corruption.
It was very difficult to believe that the official at the OPM who received the complaint, and the Minister of Finance, who was told about it, did not tell the Prime Minister. The only thing which the finance minister did was to call in those involved in the consideration of the tenders, and he took their word and closed the case. The government only moved after the case was then raised in Parliament.
Turning to the power station, Dr Muscat said the people would pay with their health for the choice of heavy fuel to for the power station, despite promises to the contrary before the election.
Furthermore, the government had not held anyone responsible for misleading Mepa on how flyash would be disposed of.
Similarly, no one had yet been held responsible for the way how funds for EU educational programmes stopped.
All this was symptomatic of a prime minister who had lost control, Dr Muscat said.
Separately, Dr Anglu Farrugia, deputy leader of the opposition, said that Dr Gonzi had mentioned consultation now, a month after Mr Abela resigned. Up to a week ago he had been saying he would mark time before making the nomination, Dr Farrugia said.