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.
[8] Even more so, because Debono's election meant longstanding member of parliament Louis Galea who was minister of education and Helen Damato who was parliamentary secretary for the elderly became unseated.
[12] In November 2011, Debono started a campaign to split the Ministry for Justice and Home Affairs into two separate departments.
[13] In early 2012, Gonzi gave in to Debono's demand and took advantage of a cabinet reshuffle to separate the justice and home affairs portfolios from one another.
[19] In May 2012, Debono voted in favour of a motion of no confidence in Minister for Home and Parliamentary Affairs Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici, which subsequently passed.
[22] 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.
[27] 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.
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.
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.
[32] In the thirteenth parliamentary speech, sitting number 186 on Wednesday 27 January 2010 Debono addressed Parliament on this issue.
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.
[1] 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.
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[36][unreliable source?]
[42] 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.
[44] In addition, Debono was hired as a consultant to Prime Minister Joseph Muscat on the subject of justice reform.