It was to be expected that the Nationalist Party’s parliamentary group and later its executive committee rallied behind Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi, and called for the resignation of Franco Debono from Parliament.

It is a rather strange situation that we are living through.

The government has obtained and is obtaining good results at a time when other countries are facing major difficulties. Here in Malta, our economy is doing well and jobs are mushrooming. Elsewhere, countries have had to announce drastic austerity measures to combat the economic difficulties they are facing, while thousands of jobs have been lost.

Yet the government is still facing a crisis – and this because one MP has understood the power he can wield in a one-seat majority and has taken a stand against the Prime Minister and PN leader, following a Cabinet reshuffle which excluded this particular MP.

We have been following the developments as they unfolded for this past week, and it seems that we are not closer to a solution. An Opposition call to have Parliament reconvened urgently before its scheduled session on 18 January was turned down by the Speaker, and this has left the country in a cloud of uncertainty that will probably remain for days to come – at least until Wednesday, unless something extraordinary happens.

And this something extraordinary could only be a declaration by Franco Debono that he will be resigning his seat in Parliament – a call that has been made by both the PN’s parliamentary group and executive committee.

It is clear that Dr Debono is now completely on his own. Until last Friday, he was being handled with care by his own party, in spite of the various times that his actions caused it great embarrassment on a political level. But after Dr Debono’s outburst last Friday, and in declarations he made in subsequent days, the party has now taken a firm stand against him.

The statements issued at the end of the two meetings were similar in many ways, not only in their call for Dr Debono’s resignation and support to the PM. The kind of language used indicated that the party has had enough of Dr Debono’s shenanigans, and will no longer tolerate his behaviour.

Now it is ultimately up to him.