Soon after the election, the two major political parties engaged themselves in a heated public discussion on the way Parliament should operate.

Since the Labour Party did not want to take important decisions at a time when it was still to elect a new leader following the resignation of Alfred Sant, it was agreed to, among other things, appoint Dr Louis Galea as the Speaker of the House of Representatives on a temporary basis and postpone all other matters until later.

It had also been agreed that Labour MP Carmelo Abela would have taken the role as Deputy Speaker on condition that a pairing agreement is eventually reached.

Soon after Joseph Muscat became Labour leader, the two sides came up with different proposals that they agreed should be discussed. A decision was supposed to have been reached some time in October or November. No such thing happened.

The matter erupted again recently. The opposition presented a motion to discuss the plans for an extension of St John’s Co-Cathedral Museum, which the government refused claiming that the seven-day notice verbal agreement had not been maintained, and immediately replying with its own motion to change the workings of Parliament.

The government’s proposals are minor in comparison to what was initially being suggested last year. After the election, the government had, for example, proposed a question time for the Prime Minister, which has not been offered now. It had also offered the opposition the chance to have one of its deputies appointed as Speaker, an offer which was refused.

What is now being debated in Parliament – the discussion is to resume tonight after three sittings were already held last week – is for the Wednesday evening sitting to be brought to the morning, with all voting to take place at the end of this particular sitting. There is also a proposal to change the procedure when a quorum is called.

It is clear that the government does not want to wait any longer to come up with a solution. It is also clear that the government believes that the opposition is doing its best to procrastinate matters for as long as possible.

The opposition, for its part, has reacted rather strongly to what it is considering as an imposition by the government. Addressing the PL general conference yesterday week, Dr Muscat said that the government can now “forget pairing”. The government has replied that, in spite of the position taken by the PL, Mr Abela will continue to remain Deputy Speaker.

With the changes being proposed, the government intends to make life a bit easier on itself. The one-seat majority it enjoys in Parliament does not leave too much room in which it can manoeuvre, and the lack of a pairing agreement is a risky matter when it comes to taking votes.

On the other hand, government ministers have several commitments abroad, most of them in connection with the country’s European Union membership obligations, and this means that government MPs need to miss certain parliamentary sittings. By leaving all votes to be taken at the end of the Wednesday morning session only, the government is seeking to protect its own interests.

This situation shows that the two sides are still far from coming to terms on better cooperation in Parliament. The opposition still seems to be bitter after losing an election with a slim margin, while the government is doing its best to find the ways so as not to endanger this slight advantage.

There have been a small number of instances in the recent past when both sides showed political maturity in the way they dealt with prevailing circumstances. But it seems that these were only exceptions and that we still have to go a long way to see them happening on a regular basis.