Independent MP Marlene Farrugia's motion of no confidence in Minister Konrad Mizzi will be debated in parliament this coming Wednesday between 4.30pm and 9.30pm.

A decision on the debate's scheduling was made this evening by parliament's house business committee.

Government and Opposition agreed to hold the debate on Wednesday but haggled about the length of the debate. While the government proposed three and half hours, the Opposition asked for six hours.

The committee debated also the timing of the session. Government suggested that the debate end at 10pm, while the Opposition wanted an earlier time.

Dr Farrugia expressed her amazement at the government’s claims that there was not much to cover following the debate on the no-confidence motion that was moved last week by the Opposition.

She had announced the motion to be debated on Wednesday during a marathon 12-hour parliamentary debate on that very motion. 

In the ensuing time, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has reshuffled his Cabinet, removing the Health and Energy portfolios from Dr Mizzi and keeping him in Cabinet as a minister without portfolio tasked with supervising the government's energy plans. 

But Dr Farrugia was extremely unimpressed with the move, deriding it as "cosmetic."

“Konrad Mizzi is still part of Cabinet. The Prime Minister’s move is only a cosmetic one. The Cabinet still has someone who decided to open a company in Panama soon after becoming minister and this is unacceptable," she has told Times of Malta.