I suspect John Dalli is pushing for co-option to parliament
When that seasoned Mintoffian, Marie Louise Coleiro (Preca), who was secretary-general of the Malta Labour Party when the Malta Labour Party was in government and Dom Mintoff and KMB were prime ministers, becomes president of Malta, there will be a vacant seat in parliament.
There are two options for filling it: the standard procedure of revisiting the general election votes for that seat, and co-option (which is how Muscat got his seat in 2008).
I have the most dreadful, sinking feeling that the prime minister is under pressure to co-opt John Dalli to parliament, and that this pressure is being exerted by Dalli himself.
My unfortunate and peculiarly growing ability to read the behavioural and thought patterns of these individuals tells me that the deluded Dalli has not given up on his dream of becoming a political leader and that he will see co-option to parliament, on the Labour benches, as his first step to becoming the next Labour leader and prime minister now that the Nationalist Party’s doors are firmly closed to him.
I am not saying that there is a realistic chance of this happening, but that in his deluded state of mind, he almost certainly thinks that there is and that this is his last and only chance of achieving his dream and getting what the psychologists call ‘closure’.
Going by what we have seen already, it is clear that Dalli exerts considerable leverage over the prime minister, though it is not similarly clear what the source of this leverage is.
If Dalli has set his sights on a seat in parliament on the Labour benches, Muscat is almost certainly under huge pressure to make that happen, while being under equally great pressure from his own party not to do so, alongside the knowledge that there will be widespread public disapproval among both those who voted for him and those who didn’t.
There has to be a reason why Coleiro Preca has been removed from the equation. I do not support the theory, spoken of by many and elucidated yesterday in the leading article in Times of Malta, that she is an inconvenience with her leftist views. There are cabinet ministers who are a far greater inconvenience and it is not necessary to remove a minister from parliament so as to remove her from the cabinet. Nor, with its nine-seat majority, is the government under any sort of threat of instability even if Coleiro Preca were to do the worst thing possible, which it is not in her nature to do anyway because she is one of those die-hard types.
So there must be some other reason, and common sense and a bit of thought tell me that the reason she is being removed from parliament is that she is the easiest to remove to make way, in parliament, for somebody else. To remove somebody from parliament you have to give them a huge incentive, but you can’t make a junior backbencher president and other cabinet ministers, like the much-touted George Vella, probably dug their heels in especially if they suspected, as I do, the motivation.
The cost to the Labour Party and to the government, of Coleiro Preca’s removal, is going to be considerable in terms of votes and popular support. She is the most popular cabinet minister and has strong grass-roots support, precisely because her brand of cronyism and doling out of favours alienate many as truly backward and Hugo Chavez-like, which they are.
This is the way I see things: there is no rational or plausible reason for the removal of Marie Louise Coleiro from the government and mainstream politics and that removal will cost the Labour Party and the government a great deal. It therefore follows that the justification for removing her comes in the form of an even greater threat to the Labour Party’s/government’s fortunes, and that there is a significant likelihood that this threat comes in the form of a person who must be appeased and who can and will, if he is not appeased, cause the Labour Party/government far more harm that Coleiro Preca’s removal will.
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Brace yourselves.
It could be Yana Mintoff who will be co-opted. Then it’s straight into Coleiro’s former ministry.
John Dalli could be co-opted later, when Alfred Sant’s seat is vacated.
Alfred Sant is not a member of parliament.
Sant is not in parlament
Dear Daphne, I thought you would see through this quite easily. It will be Joseph Cuschieri who will be co-opted. That’s why he will not contest the next EP election. Edward Scicluna will be sent as Commissioner (and guess who will be his Head of Cabinet there? You would be very surprised when you hear the name – some people are great at this game and move smoothly from one place to another with beautiful ease).
So that’s a total of three vacant seats at least: Coleiro, Sant, and Scicluna.
Why Sant? He is not an MP.
Sant did not contest last election. What “vacated seat” are you referring to?
Isn’t he an MP? Whoops then.
So the mafia boss was right, Bastjan IS the prime minister’s brother.
The Malta Independent provides a different angle to the story:
http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2014-03-03/news/before-accepting-presidencycoleiro-preca-on-the-warpath-4126146561/
Incidentally (or maybe not), John Dalli is from Qormi, too. He was also Minister for Social Policy under the last Nationalist Government.
[Daphne – Not at all convincing. That information would have been ‘leaked’ deliberately to the press as an excuse. Prime ministers have that kind of trouble with their ministers routinely. They don’t make them president to solve the problem. This prime minister has a nine-seat majority. He doesn’t need to remove this particular minister from PARLIAMENT because of a disagreement. The real clue is in the words ‘health ministry’, I would say. John Dalli is aiming to be health minister, but for that he needs a seat in parliament.]
In my perception of the matter Coleiro Preca is only said – “by sources inside Castille” – to be on “the warpath” to render her nomination more acceptable to a wider section of the population, and especially since the polls on the question of her nomination returned a very negative result.
Come to think of it, he has been out of the limelight lately. Is this the preamble to his new post or is it the forerunner of a fresh investigation from within the European Union ?
Dalli says he’s still commissioner. What’s he going to do if he’s co-opted to parliament? Present a letter of resignation to Barroso – again?
Where does this leave Charles Mangion – seen entering Castille when Marie Louise Coleiro was hounded by journalists?
Charles Mangion was probably checking for tampered smart meters in Castille.
Or installing one.
This is how Bastian becomes “il fratello del premier Maltese” then.
Perhaps Muscat is scared of Coleiro Preca’s popularity and she may be very well the next Prime Minister – never mind President.
He’s lining up his ducks and keeping his job safe from would-be competition. Let’s face it, Muscat looks like a pouty little boy, acts like a pouty little boy and does not fit the role of head of anything, least not the Labour Party.
His demeaning personality all points towards “divide and conquer”. Let’s face it, both he and his wife love the roles they’ve fallen into and act like they are now two celebrities in their own right.
It’s written all over their faces – unfortunately their devout followers are so blinded that they can’t see the wood for the trees. They’re playing the part like actors in a movie, but they have no acting skills. Their true colours show in every photo taken of them.
If they were smart they would not allow themselves to be photographed – it’s too revealing.
I have been following this website for years now, but this is the most shocking post I have ever read. And yet, it does not come as a surprise, because it is not only very plausible, but because on this website, we had questioned if the real prime minister is John Dalli.
When Dalli told Der Spiegel last week that he was still an EU Commissioner, I thought he was still suffering from the “psyco social” illness, because, I thought, if he is the PM of Malta in substance, he can’t be an EU Commissioner.
That Italian newspaper which only a couple of weeks ago reported that Bastjan was the brother of the Maltese prime minister was not far off the mark.
The fact that the PM is sacrificing an MP from Qormi could be a further hint. This could lead to an inheritance of her votes by Dalli, who may also obtain other votes.
If what Daphne predicts happens, Dalli would have taken over the Labour party.
If that happens, it would prove that there is a brown envelope hidden somewhere, after all.
I am not fully convinced that Dalli would take over the Health Ministry. I would rather think that he would replace Edward Skunkluna. That would put him in charge of the budget – can you imagine him returning to Brussels in the Council of Finance Ministers? And I suspect he would also take Enemalta under his wings. If that happens, that could explain many things.
Muscat will not survive his promise to have a gas powerstation up and running in Delimara by March 2015, so he will be forced to resign, or his government will descend into chaos. At that point, John Dalli will take over.
Lawrence Gonzi was right.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20130804/local/Muscat-will-regret-Dalli-Debono-jobs.480657
“And I suspect he would also take Enemalta under his wings. If that happens, that could explain many things.”
No, I take that back. I was rushing. He would not take Enemalta under his wings. It must remain under Konrad Mizzi, who will be shown as a failure, with Muscat, by March 2015.
Dalli would not take the health ministry. It would not increase his chances to become PM.
Dalli would stick to the Finance Ministry. It is what he knows best, where he was competent in the past, and that would give him the best chances to be PM. Dalli would use funds from the sale of passports to top up the budget which will have no deficit in 2014/2015. He would claim that he is the first Finance Minister with a balanced budget, and would be sworn in as prime minister in April 2015 at the age of 67.
There is a missing link in all this alleged strategy. He needs to get elected as leader by party delegates AND get backing of Labour MPs to become PM. I don’t see Dalli performing a Renzi-style mutiny within a party he hardly belongs to.
[Daphne – John Dalli thought he was a shoo-in for PN leader, Clueless. Enough said.]
Some months back I had read some comments from Labour supporters, saying something to the effect that Joseph Muscat wanted to be prime minister for only two years.
Perhaps there was some sort of ‘truth’ behind those comments after all.
Allow me to disagree entirely with your view that Dalli was a competent finance minister.
In Dalli’s time, those on a salary had to foot the bill for all his projects’ overruns. Despite his ludicrous claims to the contrary, we paid 35% income tax, 10% NI and 15% on what was left, ie Johnny Cash saw to it that he took and squandered 60% of most of my earnings.
His VAT law had loopholes large enough for a bendy bus to drive through and he did fuck all to see that doctors, lawyers, mechanics, plasterers etc paid even a third of what I did.
Competent, my arse!
Joseph Muscat is after a good, hassle-free income (two pensions – one from the European Parliament and the other as former prime minister of Malta) for himself.
Scicluna will be an EU auditor replacing Louis Galea.
Mangion is intended to replace Marie Louis Coleiro Preca.
John Dalli still claims he’s an EU commissioner; he can’t be an MP also.
In my opinion, John Dalli is behind the LNG power station deal. Remember that there are his long time business “partners”, The Tumas Group in the deal (Electrogas). He tried to sell the carbon capturing power station with a “puxxjatura” from the Labour Party and the Labour-leaning media.
They nearly succeeded in convincing The People, but the we had time to think rationally unlike the “surprise LNG power station” we were presented with only last year.
So if Scicluna resigns from parliament to be an EU auditor we will have John Dalli co-opted and replacing Edward’s ministerial seat. Or we will just have John Dalli as EU auditor? That would be typical of Joseph Muscat and John Dalli.
The commission will have a new set of Commissioners after the May elections.
According to ex MLP minister Joe Brincat, Alfred Sant’s only ambition is to be Malta’s EU commissioner. Sant told Brincat once when they were abroad while eating in a restaurant while attending some conference.
Competent?
The word you’re looking for also starts with ‘co’ but that’s where the similarities stop.
OK, ok, I take my comment about competence back. Not that I have to, really, because if John Dalli is “in” with the rest, then it follows that he is “in” competent.
Having profoundly analysed the replies above, I think that Joseph Muscat should push to have John Dalli appointed Head of OLAF, possibly replacing Giovanni Kessler.
How convenient, Dalli is from Qormi too.
Let’s take the thought process a bit further. Edward Scicluna will be posted to Brussels as new EU Commissioner and Dalli will once again become Minister of Finance.
Johnny Cash rides again.
There would not be a co-option, but a by-election to fill the vacant seat. A co-option would come about when somebody who is elected via a by-election vacates a seat. That’s why Joseph Cuschieri was asked to resign for Joseph Muscat to be co-opted: he had been elected in a by-election.
In such a case, Charles Mangion would be the favourite to win Marie-Louise Coleiro’s seat. That is, unless, nobody contests the by-election, in which case the vacant seat would be filled by co-option. The same would apply for a seat vacated by Edward Scicluna.
I tend to disagree. John Dalli is more powerful as he is today, being de facto prime minister behind the scenes without any accountability.
I think it would be demeaning of him to become an MP again and being reappointed as a Minister accountable to parliament.
In order for Joseph Muscat’s measure of spite to go full circle, John Dalli will need to have the Ministry in charge of EU matters.
Meanwhile could we have a PQ on the complete list of persons benefitting from a Diplomatic passport? Not that it would matter much locally, but from the point of view of any travel abroad, I would consider it improper if John Dalli was benefitting from one meanwhile, whilst still under the illusion that he remains EU Commissioner.
“though it is not similarly clear what the source of this leverage is”
isn’t the leverage be related to Dalli’s infamous Bahamas trips and Joseph’s “acquisition” of Henley as strategic partner?
Jekk fil-finanzi jpoggi l’Dalli
il-but jimla’ u l’Malta jfalli.
Actually I’ve heard a very different version coming from within the camp close to Coleiro Preca. In brief Muscat is trying to get rid of her because she is more popular than he is and doesn’t want to play along with his games.
[Daphne – Well, Mrs Coleiro Preca’s camp-followers would say that, wouldn’t they. Come on.]
He gave her one of the largest ministries ever in the hope that she wouldn’t cope and come out looking inept, whereas so far she has proved she can handle it and is getting very positive ratings from people in general.
[Daphne – On the contrary, he gave her a favour-wagon and she’s doling out the favours. That is not akin to doing the job properly. She is a government minister in an EU member state, not the mayor of a Sicilian mountain village circa 1950.]
Unfortunately for Muscat, by giving her the social ministry, he gave her the one ministry whereby she could access the majority of Labour voters. This means she does hold a knife to his throat as most of the “perks,” (i.e. social housing, social benefits, children’s allowance, etc ) that keep the general Labour voter happy come from her.
To an extent Muscat was in a fix, as he needed to remove her, but in such a way as not to upset the grass root supporters. The office of the president was the only option, not that Coleiro Preca is happy about the situation and who can blame her.
But this is only part of the story. From the side-lines appears our friend Nuxellina, Rosianne Cutajar, Labour mayor of Qormi, who is interested in contesting the next general election. That’s Coleiro Preca’s district, so she has been removed to make way for Nuxellina.
With Coleiro Preca out of the picture in the next general election, there will be a significant redistribution of votes.
Kienet qisha fuq il-patibolu hdejn il-bojja qabel ma jdahlilha l-ingassa f’ghonqa.
Wow! Now there’s a thought, Daphne. A pretty mind-blowing one that never occurred to me for one.
I could see Muscat going for this even if only to continue his line of blatant insults and slights aimed at the PN, but as you say, an internal Labour rift the size of the San Andreas fault would be the result, surely.
Tell you what – I’d dearly love to see Privitera falling over himself to support Muscat on that one, and be sure he’d definitely do it.
Well we first had John Dalli saying he is a prisoner in Brussels now we have Marie Louise Coleiro a prisoner at San Anton Gardens
Well the favourite for the casual election is surely Charles Mangion. Last week he was called to the Office of the Prime Minister for a meeting. Perhaps he was called there to be persuaded to keep his hat out of the ring?
Your article reminded me of another blog written by Lou Bondi almost three years ago.
http://loubondi.blogspot.com/2011/08/john-dalli-joins-partit-laburista.html
My immediate reaction to both your suspicion and Lou Bondi’s conclusion was identical. It followed this pattern
– Nah, I disagree. That’s purely fanta-politics.
– Unlikely, but never say never.
– Labour supporters cannot possibly accept that. Yes, but they tend to accept anything if their leader says so. They did accept Manuel Mallia as a cabinet minister didn’t they ?
– End conclusion : unlikely but possible.
IF, on the other hand, John Dalli is linked to Henley & Partners’ deal with the Labour Party when still in opposition, my conclusion is that Lou Bondi was right in stating that John Dalli joined the Partit Laburista in 2011 (if not before).
And if that is the case, John Dalli and Henley and Partners won the election in 2013. John Dalli would be, de facto, our Prime Minister.
Coleiro Preca was objecting to John Dalli’s reforms at the Health Ministry. His typical bulldozer reaction would have been been : “Get rid of her Joe”.
Your suspicion is nothing but the logical conclusion to all of the above.
Time will tell. But if you are right on this one, chapeau.
If this is the case he just has the PM by the balls.
If Dalli is let into the Labour Parliamentary group and into the cabinet, Joseph Muscat will risk a mutiny of unforeseen proportions.
With this scenario Muscat would be committing harakiri. He may be under pressure but this one would need all the spin in the world to sell in his own camp, let alone outside it.
What if JPO, Franco Debono and Mugliett want to follow suit? It would be easier to spin off the bombshell if Dalli breaks his alleged silence than to spin John Dalli’s presence in this cabinet.
Well, Mintoff chose his successor KMB from outside Parliament, bypassed the party’s general council, and we know the rest of the story. ‘Been there, done that’, as Muscat would say?
I’m not sure Daphne, but I think that co-option is only done when the vacated seat is a seat won through a casual election. To fill in Coleiro Preca’s seat, I believe that a casual election has to take place. Can someone check exactly our electoral law?
Only the Mafia in italy talks of strangers as fratello, cugino, famiglia, sangue, sorelle e cgine. The rest are the politicians in Italy.
http://www.independent.com.mt/articles/2014-03-14/news/john-dalli-awaits-cabinet-reshuffle-4255023111/
John Dalli’s reactions to TMI’s questions do give an indication that he is sort suggesting (dictating) to our prime minister the way forward.