Debono told Gonzi that confidence motion in government should counter abstention

Nationalist backbencher Franco Debono has told MaltaToday he offered Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi a way out of an embarrassing result when he abstains on a no-confidence motion against Austin Gatt tomorrow Friday.

Debono said he told Gonzi at the executive committee meeting on Monday evening, that the prime minister should immediately call for a vote of confidence in the government in the eventuality that he abstained on the Labour motion.

“I made it clear that he [Gonzi] would surely get the confidence vote because I made it amply clear that my issue concerns just one minister,” Debono said.

The Nationalist backbencher’s comments follow up on his reaction to Gonzi’s warning on Wednesday evening, in which he told the annual general meeting of the Nationalist youth movement MZPN that he expected all MPs to vote against Labour’s motion if no agreement is reached on amendments to the motion.

The PN wants to amend the motion with an apology from government. But Franco Debono has reacted by standing his ground on his decision to abstain during Friday’s vote.

He also said he would neither pen nor propose an amendment to counter the Opposition’s call for Gatt’s resignation, as had been mentioned by Gonzi at the PN's executive committee meeting last Monday.

“It is inconceivable to accept a situation where the Prime Minister decides to turn a clear issue of individual responsibility, into a matter of collective responsibility,” Debono said.

Gonzi has meanwhile called on the Opposition to have Friday’s vote postponed, and agree to the setting up of a parliamentary committee to oversee the public transport reform.

Asked for his reaction, Opposition leader Joseph Muscat said the party’s response had been lukewarm. “If Austin goes, we postpone. Fair enough isn’t it?”