Debono storms out of committee, JPO suggests minister resigns before Budget

Updated at 3:11pm with conclusions of committee meeting.

Nationalist MP Franco Debono has stormed out of the House Business Committee, after having been denied the right to speak without permission.

Debono, who is not a member of the committee and does not have a vote, was attending the committee which today is expected to fix a date to debate a motion by the Opposition that calls for the repeal of the privatisation of public car parks.

As Debono made several attempts to speak, the Speaker of the House pointed out to him that he had to wait before being given permission to speak. When finally the Speaker gave him the word, Labour whip Joe Mizzi made his intervention and leader of the House Tonio Borg followed suit.

At this point, Debono got up to leave, telling Borg: "Thank you Honourable deputy prime minister for giving me the chance to speak."

In comments to MaltaToday, Debono said he wanted to insist with the House Business Committee that government couldn't keep ignoring his stand against it.

"How can government ignore what I've been saying? It is crystal clear that the Budget will not pass in parliament. Why are they wasting everyone's time?" Debono added.

A proposal by the Speaker of the House to have the Opposition motion debated at end-October was not accepted by the Opposition, which wants to debate it next week. As things stand, the motion could be debated on 12 November because no agreement has been reached, however PL deputy leader for parliamentary affairs Anglu Farrugia said Debono's no-confidence motion against Austin Gatt had added to the urgency of the debate on the car parks motion.

Instead, the bills that regulate the in vitro fertilisation industry and cohabitation will be debated on 15 October for a total of some nine sessions between both issues.

Debono today filed a motion of no-confidence against transport minister Austin Gatt, after first saying he would include this no-confidence motion as an amendment to Labour's motion against the privatisation of car parks. The privatisation process was suspended this week by Cabinet decision, after Labour filed the motion to repeal it.

The four-and-a-half-page motion states, amongst many reasons, that due to the "completely inexistent resignation culture" which Debono says has "threatened the state of democracy", it was "urgent for the House to exercise its supremacy".

"Since it is clear that the Prime Minister, who is strong with the weak and weak with regards to Minister Agostino Pio Gatt, does not face him with the responsibilities of action... this House is called upon to censure and condemn minister Gatt and that he suffers the consequences of a vote of no-confidence of this House."

Independent MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando, who is attending the House Business Committee, floated the option to the government side - represented by Tonio Borg, whip David Agius, and Frederick Azzopardi - that should Austin Gatt resign, Debono would not vote against the Budget as he has threatened to do.

"I think government should look into Gatt resigning, because Debono's issue would be solved and government can go on with the Budget," Pullicino Orlando said, referring to Debono's threat to vote against the Budget while Gatt is still a Cabinet member.

Gatt today told MaltaToday he would not resign when asked about Debono threatening not to vote for the Budget.

Tonio Borg told Pullicino Orlando that Debono's amendment to the Labour motion has to be voted over by the House. "As things stand there is no suggestion in the motion that Gatt should resign, so the option to have him resign does not hold."

The Opposition, represented by Labour whip Joe Mizzi and deputy leader for parliamentary affairs Anglu Farrugia, wants its motion to be discussed next week. But Tonio Borg is refusing, and insisting that since the privatisation process was suspended, the urgency of the motion no longer holds water.