Prime Minister ‘ready to resign if this would save the country’

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi yesterday said he would resign as prime minister if this would "save the country" in an interview on PBS's Dissett, but he issued a scathing indictment of Franco Debono, the Nationalist backbencher who has called for his resignation.

"This uncertainty is being created by Franco Debono," Gonzi told presenter Reno Bugeja when told he had a problem with his government's stability, which appears to have lost its one-seat majority.

Right on cue, Bugeja asked Gonzi whether he was ready to compromise by resigning with Franco Debono.

"Listen, I would resign if this is what it takes to save the country. Because my first interest is the country. We're in politics to serve, not rule. Having stability is in the country's interest, and not just for its own sake, but to save jobs and bring investment."

The Prime Minister said he has not yet held any meeting with the President of the Republic over his government's stability, and is ruling out holding a vote of confidence in parliament. The Nationalist Party is to discuss the situation in an internal meeting.

Gonzi also said he would not go for elections, although he was not ruling out the possibility. "Is it my fault? This is the fault of someone [Debono] who could solve the problem if he wanted."

Gonzi was unequivocal about Debono's stand against him and his so called 'network of evil', the phrase Debono used to described Gonzi's inner circle - "I listen, but I find it unacceptable to threaten to bring the government down. I won't stand for blackmail."

The Nationalist leader also said Debono - who said on Saturday evening that the PN had declined his resignation four months ago - had "painted himself in the corner" and placed responsibility for the government's instability at his feet. "Ultimately, everyone must take responsibility for their actions."

Gonzi said Debono was unhappy about not having been made a minister in the reshuffle which promoted three parliamentary secretaries to ministers.

"Many MPs, and not just Franco Debono, can be unhappy about not being made minister... but that is different from telling a prime minister 'it's either you or me'...

"Debono wants to be a minister and because of this his world has collapsed. This is the reaction of someone who does not know what politics means.

"Politics means to serve, not putting the prime minister under some guillotine... and not honouring one's pledge to the Nationalist electorate."

Lawrence Gonzi also insisted his reshuffle, in which he split the ministry for justice and home affairs - a ministry he created in 2008 - was not informed by Debono's threats to withdraw his support from government.

"No, I had been planning it for some time. I had told Debono I was considering it and planning the reshuffle for 2012. I wanted to be able to focus solely on the coming economic challenges."

The prime minister is claiming the reshuffle is part of budgetary cuts that had to take place after the last European Council in which EU member states took new steps to cut spending and agree to constitutional changes that will limit deficits to below 3% of gross domestic product.

Asked whether his reshuffle was simply a game of musical chairs, Gonzi insisted that the three ministerial promotions will allow him as prime minister to focus on a particularly difficult 2012, pushing the line that Malta will have to face up to the challenges from the economic turmoil the EU will experience.

His budgetary cuts on Friday of some €35 million, coming with a decision to cut the parliamentary honoraria from ministers' salaries, also comes under new pressure from the European Commission to cut the deficit further. The EC is considering whether to place five member states, Malta included, under its excessive deficit procedure.

But he was faced by Reno Bugeja with the vociferous defence he put up back in June 2011 in parliament, in which he said ministers deserved their parliamentary honoraria.

"We need to make sacrifices at this point in time... I don't want Malta to be humiliated like other countries have. I took this decision to cut government spending, and the first example being set is by ministers," Gonzi said, reminding that even former MPs and former Opposition leader Alfred Sant accepted to pocket a transitional allowance for former ministers which he had introduced.

Bugeja asked Gonzi whether the suspension of honoraria was an electoral gimmick: "The electorate has been making its own sacrifices for the past three years, why now?"

Gonzi said the suspension of the honoraria was necessary at this particular moment, again citing the economic climate and budgetary cuts, and that the suspension of the honoraria would be extended if he is re-elected in 2013.