A time-frame has been set for the no-confidence motion that was presented by the Opposition following the way Nationalist MP Franco Debono distanced himself from the party and attacked its leader, just an hour after a Cabinet reshuffle excluded him from a ministerial post.

We now know that a vote will be taken at the end of a four-day debate that starts on Monday and finishes at noon on Thursday. But this does not mean that the political difficulties that the country is facing will be resolved once the vote is taken.

If Dr Debono chooses to go down the hard-headed way and vote with the Opposition, then the government loses its majority in Parliament and the most likely scenario is an early election.

If Dr Debono abstains, the Speaker will have to intervene with his casting vote and will probably choose to save the government as he did two months ago in a vote of no confidence in Transport Minister Austin Gatt. In this case, the government could live to fight another day – but is it the ideal situation? Can the country afford to live in a situation of instability? Will the Prime Minister still call an election if the government wins the vote?

We have to wait and see.

The other possibility is that Dr Debono is brought back in line and votes with the government, but this move is highly unlikely, given that the Għaxaq MP has been adamant in all the stands he has taken since he was elected to Parliament for the first time in 2008.

What is sure is that the country will be gripped in political mode over the next week, as speaker after speaker – mostly from the Nationalist Party, as the Labour Opposition has said it requires just 90 minutes of talk-time – will go over the prevailing situation before the vote is taken.

The climax will be reached on Thursday at noon, when the MPs will be asked to cast their vote. It is only then that we will know the outcome of three weeks of political controversy, and what the next step will be.

It will then be in the Prime Minister’s hands.