Constitutional Convention: PN refrains from deeming Franco Debono a red line

The Opposition is not saying it in exactly so many words but its intention to boycott the upcoming Constitutional Convention as long as the convention’s chairman is former Nationalist Party MP-turned-black-sheep Franco Debono appears to be etched in stone.

This newspaper yesterday asked Opposition leader Simon Busuttil specifically whether Dr Debono’s position in the Convention is a red line for the Opposition, and whether the Opposition would continue to boycott the Convention if the government insists on keeping Dr Debono in place.

But all Dr Busuttil said along such lines was that: “We have yet to see what the government's intentions are in this regard. So far, three years into its mandate, the government has done nothing.”

As such, the Opposition appears to be either keeping its options open, or refusing to be drawn into commenting on Dr Debono.

Opposition leader Simon Busuttil had recently indicated that his choice of chair for the still hypothetical convention would be President Marie Louise Coleiro Preca, but it appears from his comments to this newspaper on the matter that the Opposition may be willing to accept another persona of a similar stature to head what could turn out to be a monumental occasion for the country.

As Dr Busuttil told this newspaper yesterday, “The Opposition has repeatedly declared its readiness to participate in a process leading to a review of the highest law of the land.

“We believe that the person who is best placed to lead it would be a person of outstanding national stature who is able to command widespread consent and steer a process of national unity, such as the President of Malta.”

As matters stand, the Opposition’s main bone of contention is the government’s choice of Dr Debono, who was appointed in March 2013 as Commissioner of Law and as the chair of the Constitutional Convention. The appointment, coming as it did right after the last general election, was deemed controversial given Dr Debono’s more than strident approach against the PN and its leadership in the preceding year.

But despite the fact that there may be room for an agreement on who is to steward the Convention, the government and Opposition remain at loggerheads, and perhaps understandably so given the high political stakes.

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has been speaking of assembling a Constitutional Convention, and of creating a ‘Second Republic’ in the process, since his days in Opposition. On the other hand, if the Opposition wants to have any of its recent groundbreaking good governance proposals, at least those that require changes to the Constitution, see the light of day, it would presumably have to make that happen at the Convention.

After the Opposition launched its good governance proposals on 6 December, the Prime Minister quickly responded by saying it was high time that the Constitution was amended in a number of areas, and that he is willing to begin work on the Convention and the constitutional reforms it would entail, including those proposed by the Opposition, immediately.

He made the statement, however, knowing full well that Dr Debono’s position as the Convention’s chair is a major sticking point for the Opposition, and he effectively threw the ball back in the Opposition’s court saying that, “This is an open invitation which I will not tarnish with politics. When Dr Busuttil wants we will start working to change our Constitution.”

But, so far, there has been no government reaction to Dr Busuttil’s suggestion that the President chairs the Convention.