Wishing to eat our cake and having it is not an uncommon trait among us Maltese, in fact a more vulgar version of the saying is available in the vernacular.

The recent episode in Parliament being referred to as the Franco Debono affair is, I submit, a case in point.

Dr Franco Debono has been described as an able, self made, ambitious, young lawyer-party politician with a mind of his own. Such a description may closely fit its subject; it goes further than that – it betrays a kind of contradiction that may have led Dr Debono to act the way he did and put his party in a clearly awkward position.

Dr Debono’s belated reasons for behaving contrary to the wishes of his party are perfectly valid, good reasons. Indeed one could call them noble, altruistic reasons deserving every consideration.

However, in the last analysis, when weighed in the balance they are found wanting.

The explanation is simple. To be a good party politician you cannot also be a professional with a mind of your own and a will to give it expression whenever you choose.

Parliamentary democracy would be put gravely at risk were this not to be so. It is not just a matter of letting your side down; it is more serious than that. Were such behaviour to be acceptable parliamentary conduct, it would endanger the very core of the machinery of democratic government. History has afforded us clear examples of these dire effects; witness the 50 or so successive post-war Italian governments.

In our case the situation calls for the tightest party discipline in the face of a single vote government majority, an Opposition that is unwilling to agree on pairing, and our commitment to participate fully in the governance of the European Union.

Prof. Joseph A. Muscat

TA’XBIEX