Constitutional reform requires the backing of the Opposition in parliament (two-thirds of the house)
I forgot to mention earlier one of the most important points about Franco Debono’s appointment to oversee constitutional reform. Any such reform requires the involvement and consent of the Opposition, because the Constitution can only be changed with the vote of two-thirds of the House.
By appointing Franco Debono to this position, the prime minister has in effect declared war on the Opposition where it matters even as he talks nicely about the leader of the Opposition joining the Maltese delegation to the Vatican and inviting him to celebrate ‘Jum il-Helsien’ with him.
Just as I was thinking about this, I found the press release which the Nationalist Party sent out to all media.
Stqarrija PN, il-Hadd, 24 ta’ Marzu, 2013
B’referenza ghall-Istqarrija tal-Gvern Laburista dwar il-hatra ta Kummissarju tal-Ligijiet, b l-inkarigu li jiehu hsieb il-kordinament ta’ l-hekk imsejha Konvenzjoni Kostituzzjonali, il-Partit Nazzjonalista iqis li din il-mossa ma tawgura xejn tajjeb ghas-serjeta u serenita li biha ghandu jinbeda u jitmexxa process daqstant importanti bhalma hija r-revizjoni tal-Kostituzzjoni.
L-ghaqal politiku kien jitlob li, proprju minhabba l-importanza ta’ dan il-process, kellu jsir kull sforz sabiex jinbena kunsens nazzjonali u ghaqda.
Minflok, il-Prim Ministru Dr Joseph Muscat ghazel apposta li jibda b’mossa mill-aktar diviziva li hi mahsuba biss biex tinsulenta lil Opposizzjoni u intiza biss ghall-gwadann politiku partiggjan tieghu.
Ufficcju Informazzjoni, Partit Nazzjonalista
43 Comments Comment
Leave a Comment
Exactly what PL did when they sent Franco instead of Anglu to debate against Simon. Now they honour Franco to spite PN.
A true case of cutting off your di*k to spite your wife…. only it will be the Maltese nation who will suffer in the end.
He won’t require two-thirds of the house. In Lija he did hint he might opt out for a referendum.
That way, for example, he can make changes to the Broadcasting Authority to cover all media. It will be presented in a ‘pakkett’ with a few sweeteners and voters will vote it in like sheep to the slaughter.
Joseph Muscat is trying to get the opposition into a bind.
If the opposition don’t cooperate, Joseph will claim that the Nationalist Party doesn’t understand the new dynamic of unity, positivity and the death of political parties.
If the opposition cooperates, Joseph will take all the credit and say that Franco and himself were right all along.
Meanwhile, the public and the press will believe anything that Muscat says because, to quote Ġorġ and Pawlu, Joseph’s an oracle.
This will happen even though the opposition led by Joseph Muscat NEVER cooperated with the government, whether it was on something relatively trivial as a pairing agreement or something as crucial as passing the 2013 budget.
Muscat mhu se jaghmel xejn hlief jinki u jumilja l-Opposizzjoni.
Li jinqeda b’dan ir-ruffjan tfisser li lanqas r-riformi ma behsiebu jaghmel.
Bhallikieku ma ndunajniex.
Two weeks in the job and Joseph has already ruffled many a feather.
This time it is downright insolence. I say let the crazy cockerel discuss any amendments on his own.
No two-thirds majority as long as he’s around.
Muscat does not want constitutional reforms , he took out his lap dog to allienate us from the real problems he’s facing, I suspect we’re in for big trouble with the budget.
Muscat wants to paint the PN as people who don’t want to “co-operate” with his “movement”.He’s trying to find a scapegoat .
This appointment also confirms something else: Muscat cannot have Herrera anywhere near key positions to implement his promises.
If there was someone who was versed in the said reforms, it was Jose’. The way he defended the previous government’s exercise before the elections must have irked Muscat.
Muscat has just amply demonstrated that he prefers tension to filling his role.
Trying to pass ‘constitutional reforms’ as apolitical when they could be anything but, shows his fear of committing to ideological principles. These will exist no matter what slant he gives to his dream Malta.
Maybe because his majority may not uphold these in toto. If he’s so fragile and scared of any dissent now, how does he intend to last five years, simply do nothing?
As usual he’ll prepare the rat route, from blaming GonziPn to blaming the Opposition. Problem is, he has the mandate to fulfil this time.
Jekk J.M. ghandu d-dejn ma’ dawk li ghamlu minn kollox biex jghinuh jirbah l-elezzjoni, (qed nghid ghal dawk it-tradituri li kienu jilghabuha ta nazzjonlisti), m’ghandux jippretendi li l-PN ghandu jikkopera mieghu.
Jekk J.M. ghandu d-dejn ma’ dawk li ghamlu minn kollox biex jghinuh jirbah l-elezzjoni, (qed nghid ghal dawk it-tradituri li kienu jilghabuha ta nazzjonlisti), ghandu jhallashom minn hwejgu, u mhux minn hwejjigna.
After the PN’s experience with Franco Debono over the last years, independently of who was right or wrong, he cannot be considered to be a person of trust for the PN.
Given that the reform in the Constitution requires a 2/3 majority and thus the consensus of the Opposition that you indicate in your post, this process can only be successful if the mediator has the trust of both parties. Clearly Debono des not.
Therefore surely the only logical interpretation of this move is that the Labour Party does not actually want any constitutional reform. By appointing Franco Debono to this role it is setting up the process to fail and to show that the PN does not want this reform.
On the other hand if the role was filled by someone of trust to both parties, there may have been a good chance of success.
This is a comment posted on Franco’s blog. I mean – seriously, these people need a lobotomy. A national political icon ?
Lady Justice
Mar 24, 2013 @ 14:32:16
Prosit Dot for the appointment and God bless every euro you will be earning for doing your job.
JUST KEEP IN MIND ONE THING THOUGH, YOU HAVE BECOME A TRULY NATIONAL POLITICAN ICON (”Il Franco Nazzjonale”, as the Italians would have said) AND A LOT IS EXPECTED OF YOU.SO PLEASE DONT LET US , THE TRUE NATIONALISTS DOWN.
These people have already had a lobotomy.
I am sick of this “true Nationalist” business.
Nationalists, in other words those who voted Nationalist in the last elections, do not consider Franco Debono a local hero. Fullstop.
With respect to those who voted Nationalist in the past and voted Labour this time round and are flaunting it on Facebook and on TV, using this stupid “Nazzjonalist deluz” “ex Nazzjonalist” crap, they are obviously doing so to get their reward – the dream job they’ve been waiting for and probably do not deserve, the “vendikazzjoni” on their neighbour, the building permit in a non-building area, the Chairmanship or official post to earn two thousand euros a month sitting on their arse.
Ex NP voters who are not expecting any of the above and who voted Labour, mostly out of revenge or just for a “change”, obviously keep their mouth shut about it.
If the PN agree to vote for a new constituiton prepared by that mad, neurotic Hal Ghaxaq man, I shall return my tessera which I have renewed annually since 1966.
Well said.
Brilliant! I would like to see Lino Spiteri and Michela Spiteri trying to defend this latest Malta taghna lkoll strategy.
[Daphne – Michela Spiteri has made it clear already that she thinks Franco Debono is a normal, rational man. Lino Spiteri, given what I know of him, probably feels very much the same way that I do, but he’s tied to the Labour carriage.]
Lino Spiteri would defend a crock of shit too if it were marked Labour.
As for Michela Spiteri, she’s a lawyer. Enough said.
In a certain way I pity the PL for taking on board this nutcase
As if. They’ll get what they deserve. It won’t be long before they cross him.
Then he’ll get what he deserves.
Joseph Muscat is clearly rubbing our nose in our defeat by appointing JPO first and mad Franco second.
He thinks he is being smart. Already, in two weeks he has paid scant regard to meritocracy by appointing a dinosaur like Mario Vella to head up Malta Enterprise; Mark Cutajar to Chairman of the KMS, Piscopo to Chair TM, Mario Cutajar to head up the Civil Service and so on.
We can criticise all we like – he has a mandate and can do his own thing. Making these appointments may give him a quick-fix orgasm (are we surprised?) but it will not endear him with the electorate unless they deliver great results.
Time will tell – and just as quickly as he was given a mandate to govern he will be given the boot.
Results is where it is at – and we will smile cynically at every false step he takes. Sad for the country and sad for us – but that’s the way this cookie is going to crumble. We have been conned and the chickens are already coming home to roost….
Nesew il-Lejber li dan fl-ahhar mill-ahhar waqqa’ gvern? Kif jippretendu li l-PN jista’ qatt jahdem mieghu? Dan kien ghadu u jibqa’ IRRELEVANTI.
Yet another mistake by Labour…..many many more to come.
Well… finally he got the cushy job he always wanted!
U qed taraw x’jigri meta temmen fil-meritokrazija….
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20120508/local/debono-said.418950
Shapes of things to come:
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20120427/opinion/Bailing-out-human-rights.417259
http://www.francodebono.com/2012/12/16/my-vision-for-justice-and-home-affairs-2/
Mark my words, in a few months Debono will be asking for the resignation of the learned judge from head of the justice system reform.
There is an underlying hidden agenda in Franco Debono’s objections (the criminal lawyer) who is trying to argue but fails miserably with Judge Giovanni Bonello.
Debono has got rich drug traffickers as clients inside prison and he intends to get them off the hook, for a price of course. If this isn’t a glaring conflict of interest then I ask what is?
http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2013-03-24/opinions/some-reflections-from-a-politicians-wife-1241120782/
Working for the ungrateful?
I’m no politician but this appointment of Franco Debono is a deceitful move by the new Malta Taghna Lkoll government.
Truly shameful and divisive. Making a mockery of the Opposition and the country. True colours are out already. That was quick!
Kien ovvja dan l-ahhar tlett snin.
Hadd ma jaghmel xejn ta xejn.
Il-zejt tiela f wicc l-ilma.
Wiehed chairman, l-iehor Kummissarju.
xi hadd jaf kemm sejrin jithallsu?
True colours were out on day one, even before the prime minister was sworn in. Mario Cutajar and Keith Allen Schembri were present at the swearing-in ceremony. Their appointments, announced later that day, were already a done deal before the prime minister had even formally taken his oath of office.
There was never any doubt in my mind that it would be only a matter of time before the tactics would change. ‘Taghna Lkoll served its purpose. Maybe now they will change it to ‘Taghna Biss’.
Debono is definitely unbalanced. It was wrong for the PN to place him in charge of a parliamentary committee (just to try and keep him quiet) and it is wrong for the PL now to give him such an appointment.
The PN should never have given in to people like JPO and FD by giving them important appointments.
These have in the long run broken the party’s back and cost it the election, and are now serving as a platform for the PL to base its arguments upon when appointing or confirming them.
You mean “by making them feel important”.
So now we know the price for treason. Judas was cheap by comparison.
The PN should declare immediately that it will be voting against anything that Debono comes up with since it has no confidence in his integrity, and that it would therefore be a complete waste of time and money to continue with this charade, since the Constitution will need their approval as well to be changed.
It should make it clear that any appointee needs to have the backing of both parties or the PN will not be voting in favour of any changes. The party needs to assert its relevance in the new parliament – 130,000 voters must NOT have their voice gagged.
Oh, don’t hold your breath. I expect more waving of the white flag, further retreats and unconditional surrendering by PN, in time-honoured “reconciliation” tradition. Is there any sap left in PN’s pizzle?
The PN opposition should not take these manouvres by Muscat lightly.
The PN has a long history of defending democracy in Malta, contrary to Labour’s record.
My personal view is that the PN should carry on with the business of opposition as provided for in the constitution and not to play the ‘national unity’ games of Joseph Muscat, who now has the right and duty to govern.
The PN’s loyalty should be to the constitution, its voters and the public interest, but not to the government.
Besides, if the PN does not agree with this appointment, it should state this clearly and threaten with not participating in the process of the constitutional reform. After all, it is part of the 2/3 majority required in any Parliamentary vote about changes to the Constitution.
Let it be clear that Muscat will never get his Second Republic if the PN votes against it in Parliament.
Remember the famous “Lawrence Gonzi il-pairing jista’ jinsieh”?
Hi everyone, there is no need to cry out load. Let us give them a chance and see what would happen.
Muscat can only do what he excels at – playing dirty games, colluding with the enemy of his enemy, and (being an only child) stamping his feet if he does not obtain what he wants.
He has not realized that he was elected to govern – these games will not get Malta anywhere.
Muscat rewarded Franco Debono but treated one of his own shabbily (Herrera). do you think he has any worries about treating the PN harshly?
I hope that once and for all the PN will learn their lesson (II have my doubts – but there is always hope).
Michela Spiteri is the daughter of Norman Spiteri, who always was a Laburist and who made so much money dealing in property in the last 25 years.
This is why now the PN needs a strong leader.We might have lost the election but not our values and pride.
Franco’s place is in his padded cell.