Franco Debono: Between tragedy and farce

As Karl Marx observed history tends to repeat itself first as tragedy than as farce. There could be no words more fitting in comparing the dramatic clash between Alfred Sant and Mintoff in 1998 and the farcical one between Gonzi and Franco Debono today.
Surely the emotions invoked by the rebellion of the father of the party against the one who called his bluff, cannot be compared with the antics of an appeasing Prime Minister who is turned down by the ultimate product of an electoral strategy (GonziPN) which sidelined the party and set the stage for a coalition between Gonzi and a dysfunctional backbench.

What's sure is that once again we have been shown that the two party system characterised by one party governments is becoming increasingly unstable...and will become even more so as power becomes concentrated in presidential leaders who shop for candidates outside the party schools or currents (if these still exist).

But there is one similarity, just as Mintoff was temporarily hailed as a saviour by Nationalists who abhorred him for most of his life; Franco Debono has been awarded hero status by many Labourites. Perhaps in the latter case there could be more to the flirt and while it is perfectly natural for the opposition to ride high on the divisions of the other side, I cringe at the ideological poverty of a party which can include literally everybody in it.

That said I would like to make 3 observations on the Franco Debono case.

1) Debono might have some good ideas and clearly Gonzi has some big management issues in keeping all on board but clearly in this case Debono showed a serious lack of proportion on his part; first by turning his legitimate demand for a seperation between the Justice and Home Affairs Ministries in to a condition for the survival of the government and than to revoke confidence in the government as soon as his condition was accepted (in a cabinet re-shuffle which left him in the cold without any cabinet promotion). Let’s just say that the man lacks any sense of proportion and that his behaviour is somewhat irrational. That said he is a legally elected MP with the full right to vote according to what he thinks is right. Calls on him to resign are inappropriate.

2) Gonzi has lost his majority and an election is inevitable. Probably Gonzi will put the onus on Labour to present the motion of no-confidence. In this way he would link Labour to Franco Debono's antics and start the election from the position of an aggrieved party who was not allowed to complete the full term of office by a coalition between Labour and Debono. Franco Debono outbursts to the media, like demonstating his secondary school report, could in fact help project Gonzi's seriousness. Although his statesmanlike qualities are highly over-rated, the contrast with Debono could prove a plus for PN strategists. But while Labour risks being associated with Franco Debono's antics, Gonzi risks appearing as the one clinging to power if he fails to call a confidence vote.

3) Holding an election now is clearly not ideal for the country, not just for economic reasons but also because we won't have time to assess the government's performance in tackling the crisis or the opposition parties alternative programmes. Perversely holding an election now on the Franco Debono pretext could save Gonzi from calling an election after what is promising to be a very difficult year...which probably would mean failure to honour the commitments made in the last budget. Ultimately the writing is on the wall and there seems to be no alternative to an election which labour is likely to win even if the Franco Debono episode could have a highly unpredictable impact especially on a sector of the electorate which does not like Gonzi but recoils at those gloating while rome is burning.