Franco Debono reiterates Gonzi 'does not have my support'

Updated at 1:29pm.

Nationalist MP Franco Debono has told MaltaToday this afternoon that Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi "does not have my support or a majority in the House".

His comments come moments after the rebel backbencher would not rule out abstaining on Thursday's no-confidence motion, when asked by MaltaToday on information that he has accepted not to vote against his government.

A parliamentary group meeting today at the PN headquarters today resolved to carry on the debate as planned. The one-hour meeting ended at 1:28pm. PN whip David Agius said he would wait for Franco Debono to indicate when he will be speaking during motion.

Debono insisted on a no-comment earlier this morning when asked whether he had decided to abstain on the motion, after telling this newspaper earlier in the day that the government's attempts at preserving its grip on power were 'Machiavellian'. Now he is saying the Prime Minister remains dead-legged over support in the House, with his one-seat majority still threatened.

Debono last Sunday held a meeting with both Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi and deputy prime minister Tonio Borg at Castille.

If Debono abstains, the no-confidence motion does not pass since such a motion always requires a majority of MPs supporting it. The Speaker's casting vote would then turn down the Opposition motion. If Debono doesn't attend parliament, the Speaker would not be able to use his casting vote to vote in favour of the government.

Refusing to divulge what was discussed, Debono instead insisted on reminding this newspaper that a Marsaxlokk activist who accused him [Debono] of authoring anonymous letters against him, was allowed to present himself as a PN candidate for the elections without any official authorisation. "The Prime Minister had told me Hermann Schiavone was not a candidate and yet knew that he was organisng political activities for his candidature. This was typical of the way the prime minister worked... I was told, personally by the prime minister and secretary-general Paul Borg Olivier that Hermann Schiavone would not be a candidate after his serious allegations made about me."

Debono also reiterated his belief that Gonzi's cabinet reshuffle on 6 January had been a knee-jerk reaction to comments he made to The Times earlier that day on criminal justice reforms and his support of the government.

While mixed signals from government MPs and Debono have not been giving a sure picture that a solution to Lawrence Gonzi's political crisis will be found before Thursday, Debono today gave the closest indication that he will not vote against the government after withdrawing his support from the Nationalist government and calling on Gonzi to resign.

Earlier today he played down news reports that bridges are being mended, after being told by the PN to resign his parliamentary seat, by stating that one of the new roads being constructed by the central government in his home district in the south "should be named Niccolò Machiavelli Road" - a reference to the Italian political philosopher of the sixteenth century who is synonymous with self-serving politics.

"It's encouraging to see so many changes taking place inside my home constituency since I raised so many issues about the way this government is acting," Debono, who recently broke ranks with the Prime Minister, said. "I suggest one of the new roads being built should be named Niccolò Machiavelli Road."

Parliament today will meet at 6pm to start debating the no-confidence motion moved by the Opposition, which will be voted upon on Thursday.

In other comments to The Times, Debono said the political crisis may be resolved "if the prime minister starts getting advice from the right people."

"There could be a solution on the lines I have been saying, however I am afraid that the prime minister is yet again being held hostage by bad counsel from people who should be the ones to resign instead of continuing, at this delicate stage, to advise the prime minister, putting their egoistic self-interest before the continuation of this government...

Debono has been invited to today's meeting of the PN parliamentary group and a meeting of the party's executive, even though he submitted his resignation to the party four months ago.

Nationalist MP Beppe Fenech Adami on Saturday hit out at Debono on Radju Malta's Ghandi X'Nghid, saying Debono had long been working behind the scenes and putting pressure to remove Carm Mifsud Bonnici - who at the time was the minister for Justice and Home Affairs - from minister.

"On the contrary to what he has been claiming, that he's not interested in becoming a minister, Debono was always eyeing a ministerial post. I have worked with Debono for the last four years... I can assure you that he was only interested in becoming justice minister," Fenech Adami insisted.

He added that Debono had repeatedly been "dishonest" with both Mifsud Bonnici and the Prime Minister.

An irate Franco Debono said Fenech Adami's allegations were akin to his father's (Eddie Fenech Adami) lie on Alfred Sant prior to the 2003 election that he was responsible for having kept his son out of university in the 1980s. "Instead of trying to blame him they should ask why Charlo Bonnici had abandoned Louis Galea as his personal assistant, to stand for election and work on his campaign. Bonnici is today employed with construction mogul Zaren Vassallo," Debono said, referring to the former PN mayor and party donor.

Debono denied his abstention on the no-confidence motion against Austin Gatt was motivated by some personal vendetta. "This is untrue. There was no need for any excuse to speak about the Arriva public transport shortcomings because it was his own father who had acknowledged the problems at the time of the vote. Eddie Fenech Adami had heard what (Gatt's head of secretariat) Manuel Delia had been proposing and immediately informed his sources in government that the Delia proposal would not work out."