Richard Cachia Caruana resignation, PM surprised, Muscat - ‘GonziPN in meltdown’ [WATCH]

LIVE BLOG Parliamentary debate on Opposition motion (ended)

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi suffered a second defeat inside his parliamentary group Monday evening, when Nationalist MP Jeffrey Pullicino Orlando voted in favour of an Opposition calling for the resignation of permanent representative to the EU, Richard Cachia Caruana.

Nationalist MP Jesmond Mugliett abstained on the motion, which accused Cachia Caruana of having manoeuvred the reactivation of Malta's participation in Nato's Partnership for Peace in such a manner as to bypass the House's need for ratification of PfP.

The vote was passed with 35 votes in favour of the Opposition motion and 33 against as Jesmond Mugliett abstained.

Lawrence Gonzi told MaltaToday he was surprised with the vote, sayingthere was an understanding within the parliamentary group that all MPs would vote against the Opposition motion. "I am surprised that one MP voted in favour and another abstained on this motion."

Gonzi said he had accepted Richard Cachia Caruana's resignation as permanent representative to the EU, but had asked Cachia Caruana to stay on until such time as a substitute is found to take his place in Brussels.

"The Opposition's motion was motivated by personal reasons against Cachia Caruana. Labour is putting its own interests ahead of the country's at this delicate time. Justice will prevail, even if today it has been betrayed."

But Gonzi said that as long as he had the support of the parliamentary majority, his position and that of the government was sustainable. "I still respect the decision of the House."

In comments to MaltaToday, Mugliett said PfP reactivation - which was announced three weeks after the PN's re-election in March 2008 when parliament was still in dissolution - had not been in the party's electoral programme.

"After the general election, since PfP was not listed in the electoral manifesto, this had to be discussed in parliament, irrespectively of whether there was a legal obligation or not. It was a matter of importance that needed parliamentary consent. Even if there was no consent, it had to be discussed in the House."

On his part, after a speech in which he accused Richard Cachia Caruana of having used media acolytes of targeting critics of the PN and the government, Pullicino Orlando told this newspaper: "No official should consider himself above this House."

Throughout his speech, Pullicino Orlando insisted that Cachia Caruana had pushed Malta into reactivating Partnership for Peace in a such a manner as to bypass a divisive vote, and said this had also led to Malta's support of Turkish EU membership without consulting the parliamentary group.

Labour leader Joseph Muscat, in a press conference called at the party's headquarters, said the loss of yet another motion for the government was a confirmation of a "meltdown" inside the Nationalist one-seat majority.

"This motion was a clear vote in favour of Labour's motion, and one against the position of the prime minister, who chose to stay in denial and instead target Labour with his base attacks," Muscat said.

"The GonziPN system has failed and it is no longer sustainable. What happened today is a witness of this failure, of the failure of Lawrence Gonzi's leadership and it has nothing to do with any MP."

Muscat said the so called 'GonziPN' system was now in meltdown, and its effects were being felt on the government's stability and the governability of democracy during a time of recession. "It is clear that Gonzi's leadership has no solutions left at all."

This motion is the second blow for Lawrence Gonzi after the motion of no confidence in Home Affairs Minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici, which was passed after Nationalist MP Franco Debono voted with the Opposition. The minister resigned immediately.

Cachia Caruana has formerly been a PN campaign manager and a personal assistant to former prime minister Eddie Fenech, He then negotiated Malta's accession to the EU, and was appointed permanent representative to the EU in 2004.

The Opposition motion, calling for his resignation, is based on US embassy cable leaked by Wikileaks, which quotes American officials saying Cachia Caruana supported a 'procedural bandaid' to revive Malta's partnership for peace agreement without having to go the House for a divisive vote.