The government and the opposition agreed in the House Business Committee this afternoon that the vote on the Opposition's no-confidence motion will be held on Thursday (tomorrow week) at noon. The debate will open on Monday evening and continue on Tuesday and Wednesday evening.

Opposition MPs will take 90 minutes of the debate. Opposition leader Joseph Muscat will open and conclude the debate. The Prime Minister will be the last speaker for the government.

When the committee meeting started, Dr Carm Mifsud Bonnici, Leader of the House, said the meeting had been surpassed by events and the two sides had agreed about the procedure for the debate.

He then explained the procedure. 

Opposition MPs Anglu Farrugia and Joe Mizzi confirmed the agreement.

Earlier today, the PN parliamentary group held a two-hour meeting today and agreed that the no confidence debate should start in parliament on Monday evening and continue on Tuesday and Wednesday evening, for the vote to be taken on Thursday (tomorrow week) at noon.

Whip David Agius said this timetable was worked out on the basis of the fact that the Opposition had said it only needed one hour of speaking time. The vote could be taken on Friday if the Opposition needed more speaking time.

He also said there had been no communication with Franco Debono.

The Opposition insisted yesterday that a timetable should be set for the conclusion of the debate after Dr Mifsud Bonnici had decided that the debate should start on Monday evening. He had not said when the debate should end.

In a comment to timesofmalta.com on the PN group's meeting, Franco Debono said this was another case of "procrastination, backtracking and u-turns," and said nothing had changed in his regard.