The Opposition’s parliamentary group decided to file a no confidence motion against the government, accusing it of being entangled in a corruption crisis that is harming the country’s economy and stability.
The proposed motion states that, since it is in the national interest that the country will not continue to be run by a government caught in a corruption crisis, and that it is in the national interest to return the country to stability, “Parliament decides that it has no confidence in Prime Minister Joseph Muscat’s government”.
The filing of a ‘no confidence’ motion comes two days before the second national protest against corruption called by the Opposition.
In a one-line reaction, the government said that it was ready to discuss the motion in Parliament next week. The announcement of the motion arrived amid persistent rumours in government corridors that the Prime Minister was now considering the sacking of both Minister Konrad Mizzi and his chief of staff Keith Schembri.
The fact that he has spent all this time defending Dr Mizzi and Mr Schembri is raising serious suspicions among the electorate that Dr Muscat is somehow involved in this scandal himself
Speculation on a possible change of heart by the Prime Minister – who has until now defended his two closest collaborators tooth and nail – was fuelled by an unannounced interview on One TV on Wednesday night.
Interviewed by Ramona Attard, a communications consultant at the Office of the Prime Minister, Dr Muscat said that he was taking into account the public’s reaction to the Panama Papers scandal involving both his deputy leader and chief of staff.
Flanked by his parliamentary group, PN leader Simon Busuttil told a press conference that, although he was conscious that the Opposition does not have the necessary parliamentary majority to win the motion, it was its duty to reflect that people were against the way Dr Muscat’s government was letting down the electorate. He said he had also informed Marlene Farrugia – a former Labour MP turned independent – who had also been intending to file a similar motion.
“The Prime Minister must be joking when he goes on TV and states that he is considering the public’s reaction to the Panama scandal,”Dr Busuttil scoffed. “We have been telling him to sack his closest collaborators for seven weeks and he [Dr Muscat] has done nothing but defend them,” he said.
Asked whether the sacking of Dr Mizzi and Mr Schembri would be enough, Dr Busuttil said that “the sacking of his two closest people is the most logical thing that Dr Muscat should have done”.
“The fact that he has spent all this time defending Dr Mizzi and Mr Schembri is raising serious suspicions among the electorate that Dr Muscat is somehow involved in this scandal himself,” Dr Busuttil said.
The PN leader said that, although the Panama Papers scandal was “the mother of all scandals”, Dr Muscat’s administration has been lurching from scandal to scandal since its first weeks in office.