Updated - Adds video - Opposition leader Joseph Muscat this afternoon called on the Prime Minister to take decisive action to stop the instability that is gripping Malta. The Opposition would otherwise take its own action, he told a press conference.

He noted that Nationalist MP Franco Debono had said he would not back the government in parliament and would vote against it in a confidence vote. He had also said he would not support the government on the Budget Measures Implementation Bill.

Problems were not solved by being ignored or postponed, Dr Muscat said, and he was therefore calling on the Prime Minister to take the required action now in terms of the Constitution and in the national interest.

He said the Prime Minister at this evening's meeting of the PN executive should decide to call a vote of confidence. If he did not, the Opposition would assume its responsibilities and act to remove uncertainty.

Dr Muscat did not directly say that the Opposition would move a vote of no confidence, although that was what his appeal was taken to mean.

The moment of truth was needed, Dr Muscat said. The government should either go to Parliament to confirm it could govern serenely, or the PL would do what it needed to do. The country had to come before the interests of the Nationalist Party and in such an economic scenario it could not afford to waste time.

The Prime Minister last week ruled out that he would request a vote of confidence.

The Nationalist Party parliamentary group yesterday called on Franco Debono to change his position or resign from parliament, but he showed no sign of doing either of them today. PN party strategists are reportedly urging the prime minister to put off a general election as much as possible because the party is trailing badly at the polls and could be facing a heavy defeat.

This legislature has up to 14 months to run. Should an election be called it would be held by mid-March at the earliest.