Does government’s future hinge on the Labour car park motion?

When the Opposition filed a motion calling for the repeal of the privatisation of 34 public car parks on Friday, few realised the turmoil this motion would create and the serious consequences it could have on the government's future.

It was only last November that transport minister Austin Gatt faced a no-confidence motion over the teething problems of the public transport reform that summer. But back then, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi tied it to a vote of no-confidence in the whole government.

Nationalist MP Franco Debono, carving out his profile as a rebel MP, had abstained on the motion after threatening he would not support Gatt, and allowed both the minister and government to be saved by the Speaker's casting vote.

But are the consequences to a new no-confidence motion more serious now that Debono said he won't back government with Gatt as a minister?

A decision today is expected in the House Business Committee as to when a Labour motion for the repeal of the car parks privatisation (the privatisation has already been suspended by order of the Cabinet but the Labour motion has not been withdrawn) will be debated. Both Franco Debono and independent MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando are calling for the motion to be debated urgently, that is, before the Budget.

To make matters worse for the government, Debono declared his intention to turn the motion into a no-confidence vote on his nemesis, transport minister Austin Gatt.

Following the decision to re-convene the House Business Committee to Thursday at 2pm, in order to give time to the parties to reach an agreement on when and how the motion will be debated, it is evident Labour is trying to fast-track the debate.

The Opposition is aiming at holding the debate next week and this is likely to be supported by both Pullicino Orlando and Debono.

Sources told MaltaToday that an agreement does not look likely and the two parties are in for a tempestuous House Business Committee meeting this afternoon.

If the government tries to block or postpone the debate to a date which is not acceptable to the Opposition, it could lead to Independent MP Jefrey Pullicino Orlando to move a motion in Parliament in order to have the House Business Committee reflect the composition of Parliament.

As things stand, Pullicino Orlando has a right to attend committee meetings but has no vote. The House Business  Committee is  currently constituted of the Leader of the House, two members nominated by the Prime Minister and two members nominated by the Leader of the Opposition.

However, following Pullicino Orlando's defection from the PN the government lost its one seat majority and this is not reflected in the committee's composition.

Pullicino Orlando has not excluded moving a motion in the plenary in order to demand the right to vote on the committee. This could drastically change the balance of power in the House Business Committee, which sets the House's agenda.

If the debate goes ahead next week, and Debono's amendment is accepted, the government could lose a key Cabinet member.

Even worse would be the prospect of the prime minister tying the vote to a vote of confidence in his government, as he did back in November during the Arriva debacle. Would Gonzi be ready to risk his government on the car park motion?

In November 2011, unlike other votes of no-confidence in other ministers, Gonzi had declared that "responsibility should be shouldered by Cabinet as a whole and not by Austin Gatt alone" because the whole Cabinet was responsible for the transport reform.

Back then, banking on Debono's abstention, Gonzi had refused to accept Gatt's resignation offer because he claimed that it was Cabinet's responsibility to see that the public transport reform as successful.

Speaking in the House Business Committee meeting this week, both PN whip David Agius and Leader of the House Tonio Borg insisted that the decision to suspend the car parks tender was taken by Cabinet as a whole.

At the same meeting, Debono and Pullicino Orlando - who attended the committee although both of them do not vote in the committee - argued that the Labour motion should still be debated with urgency.

In a Facebook status update later, Pullicino Orlando said the decision to suspend the privatisation process had been humiliating for Austin Gatt: "Prime Minister Gonzi should be applauded for clearly showing that he has serious reservations with regards to Minister Austin Gatt's actions on three notable occasions. He removed Enemalta Corporation from his portfolio after the BWSC fiasco. He took over the public transform reform himself after the Arriva debacle. He has now humiliated Minister Gatt by torpedoing his attempt at arbitrarily privatising public car parks."

This of course, is an indication of Pullicino Orlando's own mood at the present moment.

Gatt could spare himself the embarrassment of being voted out, by tendering his resignation before the debate on the Labour motion, especially since Gonzi cannot bank of Debono abstaining. He will have no option but to accept Gatt's second resignation offer.

Bowing out, Gatt would retain some kind of respectability to concentrate solely on the PN's electoral campaign - as Gonzi himself 'suggested' publicly back in January.

Additionally, it gives a bruised Gonzi some breathing space to present the Budget in November and hope that Franco Debono has a change of heart - after all Debono said he would not vote for the budget with Gatt in the Cabinet:

"With Austin Gatt in cabinet after this latest in a series of scandals I will vote AGAINST the Budget and against the OLIGARCHY, in favour of the re-establishment of full democracy in MALTA."

With Gatt no longer in Cabinet, Debono could yet withdraw his threat, even though the government's troubles will be far from over: Debono has also said he will table a motion of no-confidence in health minister Joe Cassar.

Losing two ministers before the budget could prove too costly for Gonzi, however his endurance and survival instinct could yet see him resist and enter the new year still at the helm of a sinking government.