The unanimous parliamentary vote on the Constitutional Treaty was a historical first in modern Maltese politics – both sides of the House agreeing an almost common position on the EU.

One must, of course, point out that the MLP did express reservations on the issue, and it is their prerogative to do so. In fact, opposition leader Alfred Sant invited Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi to express these same reservations – he politely declined.

So, what is the current situation? France and the Netherlands held referenda and voted against the Constitution. Some countries have shelved their referenda until a later date. Others have opted to press ahead and others still have already ratified the Constitution in their parliaments.

We must remember that in signing this particular Constitutional Treaty, we are signing our agreement to the package which Malta negotiated with the EU as conditions of entry.

From the government’s point of view, if Malta failed to ratify this Treaty, it would mean that we would, in effect, not have a concrete written back-up of what we have signed up for. In this way, if the Treaty is ever re-negotiated in the future, Malta’s government of the day can turn round and say that the country agreed to join on “these conditions”, and have a solid back-up on which it can base any new talks.

However, from the Malta Labour Party point of view, it would seem that a decision has been taken to finally accept that Malta is part of the European Union and that the country must get the best out of it.

To be fair, that has been the attitude for some time now, yet the other night we witnessed something that was special and out of the ordinary… Dr Sant and Dr Gonzi, or rather blue and red, agree. Not just agree to disagree, but agree on an important issue that will undoubtedly affect the immediate and long-term future of our country.

Of course, apart from stating the obvious in that the MLP wants the best for Malta, there has been some manoeuvring to pacify those elements within the party and its supporters that have been calling for a pro-EU stance from the word go. Labour knows that if it did not vote in favour of the Treaty, it would have condemned itself to another five years on the opposition benches. The MLP realised that if it did not support the Treaty, it would once again have been perceived by the electorate as being anti-EU.

Many might argue that it was only consensus on the surface. However, both parties said that it would not be correct and, indeed, would be unfair, if Malta did not take a decision on the issue, because it undermined our sovereignty. This of course has an element of pride in it and both parties seemed to tow the line.

One may understand a state postponing a referendum in order to garner more support for the Treaty. But if a nation had already decided, as many others had, to ratify the Treaty in national parliament, it would have made us look weak and become the laughing stock of Europe if we did a U-turn.

Government was correct to back the Treaty – Malta has had too much indecision on the issue. The opposition – in both the national and its own interest – were also correct to back the treaty. This country has had a barrier down the middle of it for too long. Perhaps with this one issue we can kick start a new era whereby consensus, rather than confrontation and mud-slinging, can be the order of the day. We can, of course, be forgiven for not counting our chickens before they are hatched.