By the time Parliament reconvenes towards the end of April, this government will not have put even one law to a vote for four long months. Yet the Prime Minister carries on talking as if this situation is as normal as drinking coffee.

It is obvious that present circumstances cannot prolong indefinitely. Legal deadlines will make it very difficult, albeit impossible, for the Prime Minister to carry on postponing the inevitable. Indeed on 14 May the Prime Minister must put to the vote the bill implementing the budgetary measures of 2012, which is a money bill, and which the Prime Minister must ensure its safe and smooth passage through Parliament if he and his government are to survive beyond that date.

Despite Dr Gonzi’s cool talk the whole country knows that his government is not governing at all but simply administering the country. The Prime Minister needs to pass laws through Parliament to execute his mandate and it is now even more than evident that Dr Franco Debono, over whom Dr Gonzi has lost his authority, is a veritable stumbling block. It is also clear that to date there is no possibility of a compromise between the Prime Minister and the renegade MP, so that there are very serious doubts lingering about whether the bill implementing the budgetary measures will find the whole Nationalist parliamentary group backing it.

Dr Gonzi is a far weaker leader today than he ever was when he snatched victory from the jaws of defeat four years ago.

Besides Dr Debono there are other dissenters and they are clearly identifiable. They have demonstrated to all that they have chutzpah and that they have clearly overcome the jitters of their first public outbursts years ago. They have already shown that to them criticizing the Government openly and voting out of line with the party whip raises no adrenaline in their blood anymore. It has become second nature to them and they do it without fearing internal resentment for their actions. This is the most defining moment of Dr Gonzi’s political leadership. Instead of a death by one decisive blow, it’s a death by a thousand cuts.

Dr Gonzi will be using the long Easter recess he has imposed on Parliament to try to re-establish a constructive dialogue with Dr Debono and perhaps bring him back into the fold. He knows that as the May deadline approaches fresh tensions will rise and the country will plunge into another dose of uncertainty it cannot afford.

There is too much at stake – the mess in public finances, the EU commission breathing down the finance minister’s neck, Air Malta’s uncertain restructuring process, Enemalta’s unsustainable debts, tourism’s uncertain future and a whole list of other challenges that require a stable government and a positive political climate to tackle. This government cannot possibly focus on how to face these national challenges when it is evident that it is unable to quell internal revolt. It cannot fight a war on two fronts or worse still two wars at the same time.

Dr Gonzi must stop acting like Nero. In May he must take the right decisions for the country. He has done enough damage to his party and to his country and risks ending up as one of the worst Prime Ministers ever. He must put country before party and if he fails to muster the strength to pass legislation smoothly by next May then he should dissolve Parliament and call general elections. Period.

Prime Minister, it’s not business as usual anymore.

Dr Gulia is the Opposition’s Main Spokesman on Tourism and Air Malta