Labour motions ‘not informed’ by Debono rebellion, Joseph Muscat claims

Additional reporting by Miriam Dalli

Opposition leader Joseph Muscat has brushed off suggestions that Labour's motions to force the resignation of home affairs minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici and the Permanent Representative to the EU Richard Cachia Caruana, are directly inspired by Nationalist MP Franco Debono's open rebellion.

The Opposition on Thursday tabled an adjournment motion to have the two motions debated at the next sitting of the House, in a bid to spike filibustering attempts by Leader of the House Carm Mifsud Bonnici.

Franco Debono, who broke ranks with the PN since a cabinet reshuffle in January excluded him from the potential justice minister's post, is insisting that the justice and affairs motion is debated before a 9 May money bill to implement the Budget 2012 measures.

"Our adjournment motion is inspired from the fact that our motion on justice and home affairs was presented irrespectively of Debono's concerns, back in December. We have been always consistent about it," Muscat said when asked about the Debono connection.

He would not comment on whether he expected support from MPs like Debono or Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando on the motions: "I expect the Opposition to vote for the motions. What other MPs do is up to them."

On Wednesday Muscat entered the House and walked over to the government benches where he spent 15 minutes in conversation with Debono, whose strained relations were made evident when he was seen refusing to speak to government whip David Agius.

Muscat has defended Labour's decision to present the adjournment motion: "We showed good will in saying we would not present the motions if government was willing to discuss a time-frame for the debates. Instead the government has arrogantly refused our offer. It is once again trying to dictate the agenda.

"Nobody is telling government what to do on the 9 May vote - we could have voted on the bill before, we didn't need the four-week recess."

Muscat also said he was open to have Richard Cachia Caruana testify before a parliamentary committee, as proposed by the government, but as a substitute to the Opposition's motion to have him resign,

The Opposition's motion of censure was presented last week, a full year after Wikileaks released embassy cables showing the diplomatic behind-the-scenes efforts of Cachia Caruana to argue that Malta had suspended its Partnership for Peace membership, and not "withdrawn" its participation, allowing it to rejoin the Nato programme in 2008.