Bullish Gonzi accuses PM of riding roughshod over Constitution

The approval of former deputy leader Anglu Farrugia as Speaker of the House was met with the Opposition's disapproval today, in a sign of protest at the lack of consultation on his nomination.

Lawrence Gonzi told the House in its first sitting today that he would have wanted to second Farrugia's nomination, after he first claimed that it should be a sitting MP from Labour's comfortable nine-seat majority to be Speaker, but still pledged to respect the new Speaker and his position.

"As per tradition, I will accompany Farrugia to his room. But I cannot not express my disappointment at the way such decisions have been taken at a moment where we should find what unites us, not what divides us," Gonzi said.

Farrugia was asked to resign by Joseph Muscat in December 2012, ostensibly over comments he passed suggesting that a magistrate was politically biased. The move was widely believed to be a tactical removal of Farrugia from his role as deputy leader ahead of the electoral campaign.

Gonzi himself was categorical about the move, telling Muscat "could not use parliament to make friends, use funds to remedy the situation with somebody who accused you of political assassination. Don't use us and our funds to repair this situation."

Gonzi also accused Muscat of ignoring the spirit of the Constitution, which he claimed gives "first preference" to sitting MPs to be appointed to Speaker. The Constitution's Article 59 allows the Prime Minister to appoint somebody who is not an MP, as long as he is not interdicted from running for office.

"You chose to discard this preference... in other words the Constitution is being run roughshod over with this proposal, because this constitutional article now holds no effect. A government of any majority may elect any person as Speaker."

Gonzi said that as prime minister he had twice asked Muscat to appoint a Speaker from the Opposition. "I consulted them on the Electoral Commission, the Auditor General... we always agreed on consensus on appointments. As a courtesy we should have been consulted on the Speaker. On the MCESD chairman, they consulted the stakeholders but ignored them. But not with us: I did not expect this attitude from a prime minister who built his campaign on meritocracy. Not only does the government have a nine-seat majority but it wants to consolidate it with somebody outside of parliament.

"I'm sorry to say that despite our constructive approach to nominate MP Censu Galea as deputy Speaker, the government did not reciprocate. Certain decisions were taken to challenge and humiliate us: appointing [former Nationalist MP] Franco Debono to the Constitutional Convention when our country has so many capable people... this was a betrayal of the clichés we heard from Labour."

On his part, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat played down Gonzi's criticism. "I won't enter into any negative rhetoric. We are ready to work with you... we were elected on our call for a Malta that is for everyone, and we have appointed Opposition members on executive roles as well. I will still extend the hand of friendship. We reiterated that Farrugia's appointment was in the best interest."