Franco Debono (born 9 March 1974) is a Maltese criminal trial lawyer and former Nationalist member of Parliament.
In 1998, while still a university law student, he contested the
general election on the
Nationalist Party ticket and received 467 votes. In 1999 he graduated as a lawyer from the University of Malta and got his warrant to practice as a lawyer before the Maltese Superior and Inferior Courts on 9 March 2000. He set up his private practice in Zurrieq a village in the fifth district, his electoral constituency. From the very start he specialised in criminal law. In 2003 he contested the general election with the Nationalist Party again and polled 1132 votes. From 2008 until 2013 Debono served one term as
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...
for the
Nationalist Party. Debono is the former
Commissioner of Laws of
Malta
Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...
, appointed by the
Labour-led administration of
Joseph Muscat
Joseph Muscat (born 22 January 1974) is a Maltese politician who served as the prime minister of Malta from 2013 to 2020, and as the leader of the Labour Party from June 2008 to January 2020.
Muscat was re-elected as prime minister in the ...
on 24 March 2013.
Personal life
Debono went to school at
St Aloysius' College in
Birkirkara. In 1999 he received a
Doctorate of Laws
A Doctor of Law is a degree in law. The application of the term varies from country to country and includes degrees such as the Doctor of Juridical Science (J.S.D. or S.J.D), Juris Doctor (J.D.), Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), and Legum Doctor (LL. ...
from the
University of Malta
The University of Malta (, UM, formerly UOM) is a higher education institution in Malta. It offers undergraduate bachelor's degrees, postgraduate master's degrees and postgraduate doctorates. It is a member of the European University Association ...
after successfully defending his thesis entitled "The constitutional implications of party organization and party finance." Debono runs a law firm called Franco Debono and Associates which is based in
Valletta
Valletta (, mt, il-Belt Valletta, ) is an administrative unit and capital of Malta. Located on the main island, between Marsamxett Harbour to the west and the Grand Harbour to the east, its population within administrative limits in 2014 wa ...
. His area of specialist practice is in criminal law.
Political career
Debono first ran for office
in 1998, contesting the
fifth electoral district. He failed to win a parliamentary seat, ending up with just 467 votes.
In 2003 Debono was once again on the ballot in the fifth district, this time gaining 1130 votes. It was once again not enough to gain the seat. Debono was elected in parliament with the Nationalist Party from the fifth district in 2008 when he gained 2065 votes. Newspaper ''
Malta Today
''MaltaToday'' is a twice-weekly English language newspaper published in Malta. Its first edition was published in 1999, and started out as a Friday newspaper.
History
''MaltaToday'' was first published on Friday, 19 November 1999. It was edi ...
'' described Debono's election as a surprise win.
Even more so, because Debono's election meant longstanding member of parliament
Louis Galea
Louis Galea (born 2 January 1948) is a Maltese politician who was Malta's representative on the European Court of Auditors from 2010 till 2016. Previously he served in the government of Malta as Minister of Education from 1998 to 2008 and was S ...
who was minister of education and Helen Damato who was parliamentary secretary for the elderly became unseated.
In Parliament, Debono chaired the committee on the "Re-codification and consolidation of laws," and was also a member of the committee on "
Black dust precipitation" chaired by
Leo Brincat.
In late 2009, problems between Debono and the Nationalist Party leadership arose. According to Debono, who missed two votes in parliament, Malta was in desperate need of law reform. At the time, he still considered himself a proud member of the Nationalist Party, even though he toyed with switching his allegiance to
Labour
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the labour ...
.
In November 2011, Debono started a campaign to split the Ministry for Justice and Home Affairs into two separate departments. In early 2012, Gonzi gave in to Debono's demand and took advantage of a
cabinet reshuffle
A cabinet reshuffle or shuffle occurs when a head of government rotates or changes the composition of ministers in their cabinet, or when the Head of State changes the head of government and a number of ministers. They are more common in parli ...
to separate the justice and home affairs portfolios from one another. Debono applauded the split, but nevertheless criticized the reshuffle as a whole, saying Gonzi had only promoted some of his secretaries (which Debono dubbed "the ruling clique") to ministerial posts.
In early January 2012, Debono was now so disgruntled with the current state of affairs within the PN, that he stated "I'll support anyone but Gonzi." Later that month, Debono once again hinted he was going to vote in line with Labour in one of their
no confidence-motions, but abstained in the end, ensuring the motion was defeated with the casting vote of the speaker. Later on that year, he called
Lawrence Gonzi
Lawrence Gonzi, (born 1 July 1953) is a Maltese politician, retired Nationalist politician and lawyer, who served for twenty-five years in various critical roles in Maltese politics. Gonzi was Prime Minister of Malta from 2004 to 2013, and ...
"Malta's
Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
" on his blog, but removed the comments shortly afterwards.
In May 2012, Debono voted in favour of a motion of no confidence in Minister for Home and Parliamentary Affairs
Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici
Carmelo "Carm" Mifsud Bonnici (born 17 February 1960) is a Maltese politician who has served in a number of Ministerial posts in the Government of Malta.
Background, education and family
Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici, the son of former President Ug ...
, which subsequently passed. This deed forced Bonnici to resign. Debono supported the motion, because he felt Bonnici failed in bringing about reforms.
Debono contributed in toppling the Gonzi-led administration in a budget vote on 10 December 2012. The MP claimed he would vote against the government if
Austin Gatt was not relinquished from his post. When Gonzi subsequently refused to give in to the demand, Debono cast his vote against the budget. Along with all the votes from Labour, the vote failed and new elections had to be called. "I am proud to have distanced myself from Austin Gatt's
GonziPN," Debono declared afterwards.
After the fall of the government, but prior to
the 2013 elections, Debono pledged to "remain a thorn in GonziPN's side" till the end of his own parliamentary career. After the election date had already been set, Debono attacked the PN on claims it is corrupt and for polluting the environment. Outgoing prime minister Gonzi replied that Debono had now become "irrelevant."
Debono also attempted to appear in a scheduled debate in
Xarabank
''Xarabank'' was a prime time talk show produced by Where's Everybody that aired every Friday on the Maltese national television station TVM, till 2020. The show was presented by Peppi Azzopardi, and later by Mark Laurence Zammit. Various topi ...
on 14 December 14 between the deputy leaders of the PN and the PL. Debono persuaded the PL to send him instead of actual PL-deputy leader
Angelo Farrugia
Angelo "Anġlu" Farrugia (born 29 December 1955) is a Maltese politician and the current Speaker of the House of Representatives of Malta. Previously he served Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, a Member of Parliament and Shadow Minister for w ...
. Broadcaster ''
PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...
'', however, cancelled the debate.
Hydrogen as an alternative source of energy
In 2009, Franco Debono had predicted that hydrogen would become the primary global source of clean energy one day, urging Malta to plan ahead so it won’t be caught off guard. Addressing parliament on the 30 September 2009 he prophesied that “in 20 years’ time one of the sources of energy which will be in use would be hydrogen. This will be one of the main sources of alternative energy and I appeal that at least on a research level so that we would keep up with what is happening offshore, we keep our eyes wide open so that we would understand where such technology is heading.” Again, on the 24 November 2009, Dr. Debono addressed the Maltese Parliament on the same topic stating that “hydrogen is an element which is found in more or less abundance in the universe.” He had further emphasised that such technology was already being used and that already cars were running on hydrogen again urging the Maltese nation to keep up on the same topic. Debono’s calls fell on deaf ears and in January 2021 Malta lost out on EU cash for gas pipeline since the EU refused to finance the same, forcing Malta to change its energy plans and go for a hydrogen-ready system.
Constitutional reform
The Committee for Constitutional Awareness
During his last legislature as an MP Debono conceived and proposed the Committee for Constitutional Awareness, which he later chaired. This Committee worked under the auspices and in close collaboration with the President of the Republic also in terms of her support as publicly pledged. The way this Committee functioned showed clearly that proposals from both the government and the Opposition could work together.
Constitutional reform had already started through the enactment of the Law on Party Finance and the Law on the Autonomy of Parliament which were two laws of a constitutional nature.
The Nationalist Party has since endorsed all of Debono’s proposals in Good Governance proposals.
The President to be appointed by two-thirds majority
One of the first institutional reforms Debono insisted on in 2010 was that the President of the Republic be appointed by a two-thirds majority in Parliament. Eight years later, the European Commission for Democracy Through Law, popularly known as the Venice Commission echoed the same proposals Debono had voiced nearly a decade before but which had not yet found their way in Malta’s corpus juris. In the thirteenth parliamentary speech, sitting number 186 on Wednesday 27 January 2010 Debono addressed Parliament on this issue.
In 2018, Debono commented again about his proposals of nearly a decade before, stating that his proposals were done "so as to give more dignity to the office," however, he was clearly against granting the President larger powers, terming this as a "step backwards" since "while Ministers are accountable to Parliament and the electorate for their appointments, the President is accountable to no one. Giving the President more powers may sound like a good idea on paper but in practice it will be sheer stupidity."
Law on Party Finance
Debono was also instructed to prepare the groundwork for a major legislation on party financing. Debono who was then appointed parliamentary assistant at the Office of the prime Minister had commented that transparency and disclosure of donors were the two crucial issues at stake. Although the three major political parties had divergent views on the threshold to be given Debono was not disheartened and had argued that the parties should not get stuck on the amount as well as that he was not inclined to favour a political party financing by the state. He reviewed all that had been written and followed what had been happening in other countries particularly the UK.
Right of access to a lawyer during interrogation
Debono advocated for the right of access to a lawyer during interrogation, being for a long stretch of years the only voice fighting the battle in the name of a suspect. He pointed out the importance of this from the human rights perspective. In 2008, Malta was the only country in Europe which did not allow any right to legal assistance for arrested persons. After the law had passed, Debono became the first lawyer to ask for a constitutional reference for the Maltese Courts to declare this failure as a violation of a fundamental right, the case was won and the person was acquitted of the charge after a battle of almost four years
Drug laws
He was a pioneer in speaking of a ‘Drugs Court’ to be established as part of the Maltese Court system focusing exclusively on drugs related offences as well as a change in the recording systems in all court rooms from the ‘old cassette’ to a modern digital one.
Post-political career
After the dissolution of parliament, Debono claimed he was "fed up with politics" and decided not to contest the general elections again, although for a time Debono toyed with the possibility of setting up a new party to push for democratic reform.
When the results of the 2013 elections came in, and it became clear that Labour had won the elections, a cheerful Debono was carried around on the shoulders of Labour Party supporters.
A few weeks after that, the newly installed Labour administration handed Debono an appointment in the new administration. One of Debono's tasks would be assuming the role of Commissioner of Laws. Overseeing constitutional reform is however one of the most important aspects of this job. According to Labour MP
Owen Bonnici, the post would also see the former member of parliament working to remove conflicting, unconstitutional and human rights-breaching laws. In 2014, the government expanded his role by appointing him as chairman of the Law Commission.
In addition, Debono was hired as a consultant to Prime Minister
Joseph Muscat
Joseph Muscat (born 22 January 1974) is a Maltese politician who served as the prime minister of Malta from 2013 to 2020, and as the leader of the Labour Party from June 2008 to January 2020.
Muscat was re-elected as prime minister in the ...
on the subject of justice reform.
In late 2015 and early 2016, Debono also became a critic of the Labour administration. The former Member of Parliament felt that the government's policies were "not what people had voted for". Debono said he was disappointed with Muscat for appointing a magistrate who allegedly breached the constitution.
In July 2016, Debono went on record claiming that he would be willing to re-enter Parliament as a Member of Parliament for Labour. Debono noted that he might follow up on efforts of Labour's supporters - who he called "soldiers of steel" - to get the former Nationalist to join the Labour Party in order to stand for elections. Debono claims his beliefs are in line with Labour's.
Even so, Debono announced in May 2017 that he would not seek a return to parliament come the
2017 elections
The following elections occurred in 2017.
Africa
*2017 Somali presidential election 8 February 2017
*2017 Gambian parliamentary election 6 April 2017
* 2017 Algerian legislative election 4 May 2017
*2017 Lesotho general election 3 June 2017
*20 ...
.
References
External links
Franco Debono's personal weblogFranco Debono's 2008 campaign website*https://www.riformagustizzja.com/
{{DEFAULTSORT:Debono, Franco
Nationalist Party (Malta) politicians
Living people
1974 births
21st-century Maltese lawyers
University of Malta alumni
Members of the House of Representatives of Malta
21st-century Maltese politicians