‘Tonio Fenech doesn’t need my vote’ – Franco Debono to shun Budget day

Nationalist MP Franco Debono will not attend the parliamentary sitting on Wednesday when finance minister Tonio Fenech will present the 2013 Budget.

The crucial vote on the budget will be taken the following week.

Debono has insisted that he will vote against the budget and with the Opposition leader also declaring that Labour MPs will vote against the 2013 Budget, the Prime Minister will have no option but to dissolve Parliament and call elections.

"Is this man [Tonio Fenech] in his right senses? Knowing that he needs my vote in order for the budget to be approved he recently described me as 'water under the bridge'. This means that Tonio Fenech does not need my vote," Debono said.

"I will proudly vote against the budget. They cannot burden me with any responsibility because they have granted me the privilege to deliver the final blow to the oligarchy that has taken the country hostage."

Speaking on Radju Malta on Saturday morning, Fenech, who has antagonised Debono further in recent weeks, described the spat the PN had with Debono in recent months as "water under the bridge" and said that there is no room for reconciliation with Debono, who is banned from the PN ticket for next year's elections.

Explaining why he will not attend Wednesday's sitting, Debono said: "I have been insulted by Tonio Fenech just because somebody from my office defended Noel Borg Hedley. Above all Borg Hedley chose to carry the sins of others on his shoulders."

Borg Hedley, 67, a former private secretary to Fenech, had admitted to MaltaToday in 2011 that he would receive tips from contractors Jeffrey and Peter Montebello for Fenech's political campaign.

"When the budget gets stuck, all measures and details will be forgotten and deemed irrelevant because headlines will be dominated by the government's failure to get the budget approved," the MP said.

Debono said the electorate will ask the prime minister who so much time had been wasted when he knew this budget would not enjoy a parliamentary majority.
"I made it clear that with Austin Gatt in Cabinet I would not support government. Gatt is responsible for political savagery in the form of the BWSC deal, Arriva, the Fairmount affair, the privatisation of car parks, utility bills and God knows what will emerge in the coming days," Debono said of his feud with the transport minister.

He also noted that the Prime Minister chose to go ahead with the 2013 Budget despite Debono's no-confidence motion on Austin Gatt, tabled on 4 October 2012.

"GonziPN has rode roughshod over the Opposition, the people and then over dissenting MPs. Now the clique which has hijacked the PN is even trying to flog one of their very own, a real party man, through a very dirty campaign."

Although the PN was banking on a perceived reluctance on Debono's part of biting the bullet and bringing government down, the MP says that the situation has now deteriorated, and said the budget will still be implemented by whoever is in government after the election.

"I have been a gentleman notwithstanding the clear disagreement I have shown in the last months and years. I was gentlemanly enough to let them govern for a full term. Now they have cornered themselves. I have them ample time to change direction. However instead of firing Austin Gatt, he ended up deeper in the party's heart, canvassing for Tonio Fenech," Debono said.

This year's budget, the last in this legislature, will take place two days before the PN deputy leader election. The election will be contested by finance minister Tonio Fenech and MEP Simon Busuttil.

While saying that he has no preference on who becomes PN deputy leader, Debono said that he has picked up his voting document and will be exercising his right to vote.  "I am still a party member and I will show them that I am still there," Debono said.