The EU issue will just not go away for the Labour Party, nor for the whole of Malta nor indeed for the whole of Europe.

Reading what Alfred Sant said last Sunday, it is evident that it is in his party’s clear interest to put the EU issue behind it in order to regroup and focus on harnessing support and winning the next election. He almost said as much. But the issue will not be so swept under the carpet, not just because of the coming vote on the ratification of the European Constitutional Treaty in Parliament, nor due to the party’s extraordinary conference which will predate the parliamentary debate, nor to the splits coming out of the woodwork as a result of the Campaign for National Independence, Front Maltin Inqumu and the new Moviment Laburista Popolari which emerged during the official celebrations last Tuesday.

Nor will the issue impact only on the MLP and leave the PN high and dry. Those who would like to think that are dreaming.

For what happened over the past weeks affects all Europe and consequently affects all of us. Only those with blinkered perception think that the result has given one side or the other some kind of advantage.

We have been considering the two No votes in France and in the Netherlands as if they were parallel or convergent. In reality, they were totally divergent. In France, the No vote was against what the French public was told about the prevailing Anglo-Liberal economic theory dominant in Europe, while in The Netherlands, a liberal country economic-wise, and as Atlanticist as Britain, the No vote was against an interfering Brussels which imposed restrictions that held back Dutch economic growth. Granted, this is rather a simplification, but the two No votes which converged against Brussels started from very divergent points of view.

Nor will the two No votes be the only ones. Austria, Belgium, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Slovakia, Slovenia and now Latvia have ratified the Constitution by a parliamentary vote, Spain by a parliamentary vote and a referendum. The next referendum is due to be held in Europhile Luxembourg on 10 July and already the polls are reporting a disintegrating advantage for the Yes vote. Denmark is next on 27 September and the Danes have thrown out the euro twice in a referendum. Britain, as announced last week, is having second thoughts about holding a referendum while similar noises are being heard in the Czech Republic, where a No vote is expected, and Poland. Besides, as was made amply clear last week, now that the Treaty has been voted in by parliaments and by the Spanish people there is absolutely no way it can be modified or changed.

This week’s summit of European leaders will find itself between a rock and a hard place.

This is not just an issue regarding a treaty or a piece of paper, but an issue which affects the very lifeblood of the EU, as it has now become clear that this crisis has affected the euro. For in a very true way the genesis of this crisis is economic: the No vote was born out of frustration with economic stagnation and with a promised lifestyle undelivered. The US and the Far East have seen far greater growth over the past years than the economies of Europe. The strategy outlined at Lisbon has not really been tried and many countries are turning inwards towards protectionism. That is the real meaning of the French No. Neither the post-referendum moves by the French government, nor the electoral moves by the German government seem to aim at growth: on the contrary, and unfortunately, they seem to aim more at placating the vocal segments of public opinion, no doubt with electoral results in mind.

This, rather than the stray and futile arguments by some fringes against the euro, is what is really shaking the common currency, to which we are now tied. For the common currency is based on a commitment towards more political integration, which has now been blocked by the No votes, but also on a common understanding on the way forward, which is now non-existent. It is OK for Tony Blair, significantly the only leader to be advantaged by what has happened, to state that where crisis lies there is also opportunity, but until there is a common understanding of the reasons why there has not been any sustainable growth in the EU over the past 10 years and a common understanding how growth can be achieved, there can be no moving forward.

In more ways than one, this is just as well. The EU could not continue to move ahead towards even greater enlargement, especially Turkey’s accession, unless the peoples of Europe were consulted. Out of the three that have been consulted so far, two have rejected not just the Treaty but the power behind the Treaty. Nor can the EU countries continue to move towards a single currency as an expression of a single market when there is no common intent or common plan ahead. Unfortunately, the single currency is very much like a bicycle: unless you move forward, you start to wobble.

This is why all the supposed discussion we are having here is nowhere near tackling the real issues: the Constitution and its ratification is being used on the Labour side for internal party reasons while there is equally no discussion on the government side. It is scandalous that we are living through such a crisis and both sides only see what brownie points they can get out of it, without there being a real discussion (not even on the many discussion programmes) about the real issues in ways that are enlightening.

We are now in the EU and this crisis affects us all. It is in our interests that the EU gets it right and that it once again ensures growth and prosperity to its citizens, as it has done for the past 50 years. Malta too, in its smallness and also with its economic problems can and should contribute to help the EU find solutions.

Rather than use the EU for another Punch and Judy bust-up.