There must have been many collective sighs of relief by European leaders last week as the Lisbon Reform Treaty was agreed upon and delivered without too much furore.

Many expected that there would be huge contentions, especially by Poland and Italy – mostly related to parliamentary seat allocation, but the speed and ease with which agreement was reached was, to say the least impressive.

It is now expected that the treaty, which is mostly a progression of the hard work put in by the German EU Presidency, will be signed on 13 December to coincide with the Brussels summit.

This all has to be taken into account with the proposed EU Constitution Treaty which disintegrated spectacularly after being ratified in various European Parliaments, only to be thrown out in two referenda. Nothing is plain sailing, this treaty will also be subject to a referendum in Ireland, however, the Irish do have a history of being pro-Europe.

Malta of course, gained its much awaited six seat in the parliament which should come into effect in time for the next round of European elections, providing the treaty is ratified and adopted by all members.

It is somewhat refreshing to see that agreement has been reached so 'easily and quickly'. Only two years ago, there was serious concern as to whether the EU could ever function properly after seeing the Constitution Treaty being effectively torn up and put on the backburner.

It must be satisfying for all to have got this major hurdle out of the way. But now, it is time to turn our attention to more serious matters. The EU had set itself targets in the Lisbon Agenda some years ago with the aim of becoming the world's most knowledge based economy. It was, and still is quite clear, that those aims as first set out will not be met in the established timeframes. As a result, Europe extended that same time frame and now the continent is pushing to reach those results. The Lisbon Agenda is basically a set of goals which are intended to improve quality of life, while at the same time boosting Europe's competitiveness. EU countries, Malta included, are aiming to progress as much has they can – building on knowledge, efficiency and competitiveness, however all members must do all they can now to reach those aims.

With an agreement for the Lisbon Treaty in place, EU members can now divert their focus to these, more pressing matters, along with others – such as irregular immigration. There has been a pledge by Europe to aid Malta and other southern European States in the fight to stem irregular immigration, but more needs to be done. We have, of course, heard that the FRONTEX border patrol agency's funding will be increased, but this is not enough. Granted, Malta needs help to control what goes on outside our borders, but what we really need is help to address the problems within our borders. This includes the need for funds for education, integration, skills training and more. Of course, Malta still wants more European states to actually settle some of the immigrants themselves, but this will happen later rather than sooner. The government and our MEP's should continue to push to idea of burden sharing, but we should also embark on more specific efforts aimed at tapping into the EU aid funding schemes.