Labour presents ‘adjournment motions’, government insists Budget Bill must be voted upon first

The government has insisted that the Budget Measures Implementation Bill vote must be taken before discussing the Opposition’s motions of censure on Home Affairs Minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici and Malta’s permanent representative to the EU, Richard Cachia Caruana.

In a statement the government said "All other business, including the two motions presented by the opposition today should be debated after 9 May and as decided by the House Business Committee.”

The government added that as agreed by the PN parliamentary group, the Parliamentary agenda should give priority to the Budget Measures Implementation Bill.

However, the government said the Bill related to the setting up of the special purpose vehicle to finance the City Gate project Bill to extend the membership of the MCESD will be moved, debated and voted upon before 9 May.

The statement was issued after gthe Opposition leader Joseph Muscat announced he will present two motions in parliament to have the House debate with urgency the motion on justice and home affairs, and a motion of censure of permanent representative to the EU, Richard Cachia Caruana.

Opposition whip Joe Mizzi has already tabled the two adjournment motions in parliament, Muscat said.

An adjournment motion proposes that the House adjourns as a way of having a debate carried forward. The motions give Parliament three days to discuss and vote on the censure motions in Carm Mifsud Bonnici and Richard Cachia Caruana.

Muscat said the move had been prompted by the Prime Minister's unilateral move to schedule 9 May for a vote to be taken on the Budget Measures Implemenation Bill. He said that the decision to table the two adjournment motions was the "last resort" after the government had refused to discuss the parliamentary agenda with the Opposition.

The Labour leader said the Opposition had offered a sign of friendship this week in a bid to agree on the forthcoming parliamentary schedule. "We have tried to reach an informal agreement with the government on the Parliamentary agenda for the coming two weeks. However we only learnt that the Budget Measures Implemenation Bill vote will be taken on 9 May through the media."

He added that the Opposition is "still open to discuss matters and reach an agreement with the government" however, Muscat said that if no agreement is reached by Friday, the Opposition will proceed with the two adjournment motions presented today.

"In the past we found that Leader of the House and home affairs minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici was unwilling to collaborate on setting the agenda for House business. Mifsud Bonnici did all he could to block parliamentary business," Muscat said.

Muscat noted that no vote had been taken by Parliament in the aftermath of the vote of no-confidence in the government which was defeated by the Speaker's casting vote in January.

"The Home Affairs Minister did all he could to block the debate on his ministerial responsibilities," Muscat said. He added that the fact that Parliament has not discussed the new electoral boundaries proposed six months ago was proof of Mifsud Bonnici's "incompetence."

Muscat explained that the home affairs ministry is in tatters under Mifsud Bonnici's management.  

"Recent developments show that even when the prime minister ran a leadership campaign with him as the only candidate, after surviving a vote of no confidence, this did not bear any positive result for Lawrence Gonzi."

Muscat explained that the Opposition had no option but to present these two adjournment motions "because it is not acceptable to run Parliament in this way in a democracy. GonziPN must solve its own problems and not hold the whole country hostage."

The unstated intention is to find support by disgruntled Nationalist MP Franco Debono, who this week called for the resignation of Lawrence Gonzi after the prime minister refused to cave in to his demands to debate the Opposition's motion on justice and home affairs.

Muscat said the Opposition had flagged issues on the justice and home affairs portfolio before the concerns raised by Franco Debono, when asked by the press whether he expected support from Debono. "On the other motion pertaining to the permanent representative to the EU, there is no connection to the MP," Muscat said. "The Opposition is acting of its own accord."

Asked what guarantee Labour has that the two motions will go through, Muscat said he had no guarantee but said that the motions were presented according to the rules of Parliament and added "we will see the outcome of the motions if and when the discussion takes place."

Although the justice and home affairs motion does not state it expressly, Muscat said the Opposition is demanding Mifsud Bonnici's resignation and may yet have to amend the original motion. "It is obvious we want his resignation, Muscat said."

The Opposition's motion on justice and home affairs was presented in December 2011 by justice and home affairs shadow ministers José Herrera and Michael Falzon.

Asked whether the motion on justice and home affairs concerns Justice Minister Chris Said, Muscat said "there is still time to amend the motion because many things have happened since it was tabled, including the split of the justice and home affairs ministry."

The motion was presented before Gonzi held a Cabinet re-shuffle and split the justice ministry from home affairs on 6 January. Herrera and Falzon's motion presented in December, demanded that political responsibility be assumed for 'endemic problems' in the sectors falling under the responsibility of the then Ministry of Justice and Home Affairs. Back then Franco Debono had said that he will support government. However, since the motion was presented, the ministry has been separated and Franco Debono abstained on the Opposition's no-confidence motion.

The Labour Party has also a motion of censure calling for the resignation of Malta's permanent representative to the European Union, Richard Cachia Caruana, for his 'behind-the-scenes' role in bringing Malta into Nato's Partnership for Peace in 2008 and bypassing the parliamentary procedure for this decision.

Muscat said that he has no qualm with having Cachia Caruana appear before the parliamentary committee for European affairs, however it "should not substitute a parliamentary debate."

Shadow foreign minister George Vella cited the contents revealed in US embassy cables by Wikileaks in 2011, which showed Cachia Caruana had actively lobbied the United States as early as 2004 to reactivate Malta's participation in the PfP.