The Nationalist Party’s parliamentary group yesterday discussed and reached agreement on changes to the Gaming Bill that is at present being discussed in Parliament and which will be moved at committee stage.

Sources in the group who spoke to this paper said they were satisfied with the changes that will be made because, as they see it, they will tighten up the bill and prevent abuse.

The urgency of the matter, since the bill is currently under discussion in the House, made the group change the proposed agenda and focus almost exclusively on this issue at yesterday’s meeting.

Discussion on the proposed power station extension, and IVF, were therefore postponed until a future meeting of the group.

While it is being said (The Times online) that the group postponed its discussion on the power station extension until the Auditor-General has completed his report on this issue, as requested by the Public Accounts Committee in view of the motion presented by the Opposition, the information this paper has is that it was purely because of a lack of sufficient time that there was no discussion on the issue yesterday.

In fact, it was noticed that minister Austin Gatt took a whole file of information with him, as he was ready to answer any questions that might have been put to him.

The meeting, however, almost started on the wrong foot, when angry words were exchanged after somebody criticised the appearance of, and what was said by, three MPs on Monday’s Bondi+. The situation was then calmed down and the meeting took place.

And Prime Minister Gonzi did not inform the group about any Cabinet reshuffle he could be about to make, or about the supposedly impending appointment of Malta’s European Commissioner.

A rumour that has been making the rounds since at least last Monday is saying that the two issues are connected and that an announcement in this respect will be made tomorrow.

The rumour even gave the identity of the person reported to be “about to be sent to Brussels” or, alternatively, to the Court of Auditors, and that this would necessitate a reshuffle in Cabinet.

Meanwhile Leo Brincat wrote on his Facebook page: “A pleasure attending and participating in a pro-active parliamentary group meeting of the PL this morning. We do not need disgruntled backbenchers to call us to order. We meet regularly every week and often beyond that. It would be interesting to find out how often our rivals met strictly at PG level since the last general elections.”