Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi confirmed today that there were contacts with Nationalist MP Franco Debono last night to try and find a “solution” before the actual vote on the motion of no confidence in Home Affairs Minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici.
“My door was always open,” he said, adding that he would be lying if he said he had been sure that Dr Debono would vote with the Opposition in yesterday’s vote.
A solution “could not be found”, Dr Gonzi said, when asked to confirm whether there were discussions on the appointment of Dr Debono as Leader of the House instead of Dr Mifsud Bonnici.
Dr Mifsud Bonnici had announced when he started his speech yesterday that he was prepared to give up his post as Leader of the House if the no-confidence motion was not approved.
Dr Gonzi was speaking at the launch of a new PN initiative called myvoice.pn which involves a number of Facebook pages which will be spearheaded by Public Dialogue Minister Chris Said.
Dr Gonzi said there were three consequences of yesterday’s vote - the resignation of Dr Mifsud Bonnici, the acceptance of that resignation and the decision to call the confidence vote for this Monday
The Prime Minister added that it was his duty to govern the country for the term of this legislature according to the rules of democracy - indicating that he would not call an early election unless the government loses Monday’s vote of confidence.
Dr Gonzi accused Labour leader Joseph Muscat of reaching the apex of “superficial, opportunistic politics” yesterday, saying that the debate in Parliament unmasked Dr Muscat.
“Dr Muscat will be the one to face the most serious consequences of yesterday’s vote,” he said, reiterating that there was no valid reason to force Dr Mifsud Bonnici to step down.
Dr Gonzi added that in the face of all the storms the country was facing, it still managed to obtain impressive economic results as shown in the most recent report by the European Commission.
The press conference was also attended by general secretary Paul Borg Olivier, who praised Dr Mifsud Bonnici’s “valid” contribution to the county.
Asked if Dr Debono was still considered to be a Nationalist MP, Dr Borg Olivier said: “Yes”.
Meanwhile, Dr Gonzi thanked law student Benjamin Camilleri for suggesting that the PN opens a number of Facebook groups to gauge ideas on various themes, including education, sport and the environment.
He said this idea was borne from the mychoice.pn initiative launched by the party in recent weeks.
The pages will be managed by Dr Said, who also attended the press conference. Dr Said encouraged people to “like” the Facebook pages and make use of this modern form of communication.
He, in turn, would absorb these ideas to turn even the smallest ones into “our biggest projects”.
Asked if appointing the Dialogue Minister to do such a job for the PN was blurring the line between party and government affairs, Dr Gonzi said all serving politicians, including himself, had two jobs.
What was important, he said, was that the politicians are able to distinguish between both roles.