Parliament is set to reconvene this evening after the Christmas recess, with echoes of what happened at the last sitting on 14 December still reverberating, and this not only in the corridors of the Palace.

That time, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Louis Galea, twice had to use his casting vote after two consecutive ties. The absence of Nationalist MP Franco Debono from the House put the government with its back to the wall, and it was proof of how flimsy its one-seat majority in Parliament is.

So much has been written since then. The opposition has taken it to mean that Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi does not enjoy the full support of his team, and some Labour exponents are already talking about an early election. It would be manna for a party that went through the same motions the last time it was in government, and ended up losing power after only 22 months.

On the other hand, the Nationalist Party has tried its best to minimise the happening, saying that the government is still in a strong position and that all the talk about a potential collapse is unfounded.

Dr Debono himself has said that he never had the intention of leading to the collapse of his own government, but he admitted that he did what he did to send a message to his own government and party that not all is well.

It must be said that what Dr Debono has done has led to concern within the PN ranks. Things might have calmed down over the Christmas period, but it does not mean that there will not be a repetition of what took place last month. The coming weeks, even as Dr Gonzi prepares to restructure his Cabinet after the probable resignation of EU Commissioner-to-be John Dalli, will tell us a great deal on what to expect.

There are, of course, other issues to contend with as from this evening. For one thing, the opposition is still insisting that its motion to discuss the Delimara power station extension is put on the agenda immediately. In reply, the government is saying that until the auditor’s report on the issue is finalised and made public, no date can be set.

One can expect some form of pressure, even a possible protest, from the opposition benches to push the government into accepting its stand. Whether this takes the form of quorum calls or other ways remains to be seen, but the opposition seems to be adamant in its position to force the government to deal with the issue as soon as possible.

With regard to normal House business, the first item on the parliamentary agenda is the debate on the probation amendment bill. But there are other issues in the pipeline this year, such as the reform of the Malta Environment and Planning Authority, which is set to attract great attention not only from the political point of view, but also from the various non-governmental organisations who see it as a chance of getting more of what they want.

The re-opening of Parliament will effectively mean an end to the political holidays, even though it must be said that political talk did not take a rest over the Christmas period. With the Labour Party not taking the cue from the Nationalist Party’s political silence over Christmas, the government could not let statements issued regularly by Labour spokesmen pass without giving its own reply.