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Karl Schembri
Josef Bonnici’s impending appointment to the European Court of Auditors will leave the Nationalist Party with a vacated seat in Parliament, giving the Prime Minister the possibility of filling the gaps in his Cabinet by co-opting a technocrat and appointing him Finance Minister.
Nominated by the government as the country’s representative to the European Court of Auditors, 51-year-old Bonnici is clearly on his way out of politics although technically the appointment requires the EU’s approval. The Cabinet’s decision to nominate him comes in the wake of his refusal to work as Parliamentary Secretary for Finance under Gonzi. By May, he will have started his six-year full-time term on the court in Brussels, renewable for another six years.
Given that Bonnici had made it to Parliament thanks to a by-election, the PN is required to co-opt a new MP who need not necessarily be a party candidate. In fact, unless an economist or financial expert is co-opted, Lawrence Gonzi’s option of appointing a finance minister to relieve him will diminish considerably. With John Dalli enjoying his new job at the foreign ministry and virtually nobody else on the government bench competent to run the finance ministry, a non-political co-option could be Gonzi’s first lauded decision.
PN Secretary General Joe Saliba says it is still early to speak of the upcoming co-option.
“We’re busy with the EP elections now,” he said when contacted.
PN sources say the name of the party president, Victor Scerri, is being mentioned as a possible appointee, but Saliba says the issue has not been discussed between the PN leader, deputy leader and himself yet.
A lawyer by profession, Scerri was a PN candidate in the last general elections but was not elected. He garnered 1,305 first count votes from the fourth district.
This will be the second of three vacancies to arise on the government bench within a month. Last week, Michael Asciak made a comeback to parliament thanks to a by-election on the eighth district following Fenech Adami’s resignation. Another by-election will be held on the ninth district to fill the seat vacated by former Foreign Minister Joe Borg, who is now an EU Commissioner.
karl@newsworksltd.com
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