Former junior minister propped up as Fifth District ‘antidote’ to Franco Debono
Matthew Vella The former Nationalist MP and former parliamentary secretary Helen d’Amato has been approached to become Speaker of the House, following the announcement that Louis Galea will be installed as a member of the EU’s Court of Auditors in Luxembourg.
MaltaToday is informed that d’Amato was approached for the role to become the second woman Speaker in the history of the Maltese parliament.
More importantly, the move buys Lawrence Gonzi precious support in an otherwise embattled House.
A Gonzi loyalist, d’Amato was an active supporter of the prime minister’s leadership bid in 2004. She was then made parliamentary secretary for the elderly and community care in Gonzi’s first cabinet, but lost her seat in the 2008 general election.
D’Amato is touted as the “perfect antidote” for the problems the PN faces on the fifth district, where heavyweight Louis Galea was ousted by newcomer Franco Debono.
Helen d’Amato was previously elected to parliament in casual elections after Louis Galea – always returned on two districts – vacated his fifth district seat. As Speaker of the House, d’Amato is now given a significant role and enough time to rebuild her political base in the fifth district.
With her political profile boosted, d’Amato would offer formidable opposition to Franco Debono, a rising star whose antics may have cost him his political career.
Debono was elected on the strength of an electoral drive that jettisoned older, and more unpopular Nationalist ministers in favour of new blood. But he stirred the political waters last December when he failed to turn up for a parliamentary vote, forcing the Speaker to cast his vote, and then went below the radar for an entire week, forcing Lawrence Gonzi to pay him a personal visit at home in a bid to entice the MP back to normal political duties.
Since then, critics say Debono managed to wangle for himself the chairmanship of a parliamentary committee, and more news coverage on Net TV, for his otherwise unruly behaviour. Nationalist MP Philip Mifsud last Sunday told MaltaToday that Gonzi’s appeasement had irked other MPs for setting a precedent for “preferential” treatment and that it opened the PM to “blackmail”.
As a result, the backbencher was reportedly summoned to the PN headquarters and given an earful by secretary-general Paul Borg Olivier (see story on page 2)
Sources also said former European Commissioner Joe Borg has been touted for the role, but MaltaToday is informed Borg is considering private offers from foreign enterprises. As Speaker, Borg would have been unwelcome news for MPs and candidates on the 10th ‘Sliema’ district, where the former foreign minister had his constituency base.
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