Opposition Leader Bernard Grech slammed Prime Minister Robert Abela for refusing to reach a genuine compromise in negotiations for the appointment of the new standards commissioner.
Grech was addressing parliament on Wednesday evening in a last effort to block the government's anti-deadlock mechanism before MPs took their vote on the second reading of the bill. The result of that vote was 39 for, 33 against.
This will now go through committee stage, when the technical details are debated and voted upon, before the final third reading stage. The approved bill will become law once it is then signed by the President.
"Robert Abela is as nice as much as you want him to be, as long as you agree with him," Grech told MPs gathered in parliament.
"But when you don't agree with him, he will do whatever is necessary to make sure that everything goes the way he wants it to."
Grech said that throughout the weeks of negotiations, he strove to find common ground with the prime minister, but said Abela had his mind set on appointing his own choice and was unwavering.
"There was no good faith, neither a genuine effort to reach a compromise on a person who would enjoy the trust of all of us," Grech said.
"This was a discussion about what standards we want in our politics, in our parliament, and in our country. But Abela wanted to choose the referee all by himself. He wanted to choose the person who is tasked with investigating us, himself."
The bill will see an anti-deadlock mechanism introduced into the Standards for Public Life Act. The proposed amendment will allow the appointment of the standards commissioner through a simple majority if two votes fail to yield a two-thirds majority.
The government is keen to appoint former chief justice Joseph Azzopardi to the post, but the Nationalist opposition is against that choice.
It is also set against the anti-deadlock proposal, with party leader Bernard Grech declaring the proposal “undemocratic”.
On Wednesday, Grech said he attempted to harness a mature discussion with the prime minister over the past weeks, but despite several "reminders", Abela remained unshakable.
He said he proposed that both sides create a shortlist of candidates of preference and when, following discussions, the candidate is chosen, both Abela and Grech inform the appointee together and announce his appointment to the public jointly, to show the new commissioner and the country that the new appointee enjoys everybody's trust.
Grech also said he urged Abela to agree that they do not publicly announce who came up with the name of the appointed commissioner, "because this is not about who won, but about arriving to a consensus".
"Abela liked none of my suggestions. He threw them out the window," Grech said.
He also responded to criticism from Labour MPs who said the PN never provided a reason why Joseph Azzopardi was good enough to be ombudsman but not standards commissioner.
"And how is Joe Zammit McKeon good enough to be ombudsman but not standards commissioner?" he asked Labour MPs, insisting the argument goes both ways.
The PN had originally proposed Zammit McKeon for the post but eventually agreed with the government to appoint him as ombudsman.
Grech concluded his speech by saying he remains hopeful that "reason" and "genuine dialogue" from both sides overcome the impasse and that the government and opposition mutually agree on a new commissioner who enjoys the trust of both parties.