Budget to be moved once European Commissioner seat is filled - PM

The budget will be moved in Parliament once the seat which will be vacated when Tonio Borg becomes European Commissioner is filled, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said this morning. Speaking in St Julian’s, Dr Gonzi said that the process regarding Dr Borg’s nomination continued this week with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso’s acceptance of the nomination. Dr Borg’s hearing will now follow and the government was hoping for the process to be very much advanced by the third week of November. If Dr Borg is appointed Commissioner, he would have to resign his seat in Parliament, which the government would then have to fill to have everything in place before the presentation of the budget, Dr Gonzi said. Dr Borg was nominated to be Malta’s new commissioner following the resignation of John Dalli. Dr Gonzi said that an important meeting of the PN’s executive is being held tomorrow to embark on the process to find a deputy leader, a post which Dr Borg has already resigned to send the message that he was going in for a new position cut off from any party structures. Through this process, the Prime Minister said, the PN was again showing that it was not afraid of change,...