After having seen summits fail and negotiations break down in the past, Europe, and in particular EU and EC leaders breathed a heavy sigh of relief yesterday after a deal was brokered in Brussels to appease the Czech Republic.
The summit, which drew to a close last night, was originally intended to finalise the Lisbon Treaty text which is intended to make the EU a more streamlined, efficient and transparent body.
However, most of the first day was taken up with hammering out a deal to allow the Czech Republic an opt-out clause on the EU's Charter of Fundamental Rights. The Czech Republic's President, euro-sceptic Vaclav Klaus had refused to sign the treaty even though it had been approved by the Czech senate. In the meantime, a group of militant senators had tabled a motion in court to declare the treaty to be in breach of the Czech Constitution.
The issue at stake was that the Czech President was worried that ethnic Germans, expelled after World War II, would be able to lay claim to lands in the Czech Republic.
The EU leaders managed to hammer out an opt out deal - similar to those of Poland and the UK. The Czech President is understood to be satisfied with the opt out and so, the final hurdle remains to be the court ruling.
As European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso pointed out, the last political hurdle has been overcome. However, one must bear in mind that there is still one last legal hurdle to go, and that will be the ruling of the Czech court which is due to be delivered early next week.
If the court rules in favour of the militant senators, then the treaty could find itself scuppered. Odds-on favourites to win the next UK general elections are the Tories, led by David Cameron.
Mr Cameron has already gone on record saying that if the treaty is not implemented before the next election, his government will put the matter to a referendum. Given that the UK is a euro-sceptic country which, through choice, is not even part of the eurozone, it could very well flounder.
A Tory government would also not lend much support and has already gone on the record saying that it will view any move by Gordon Brown's government to push forward Tony Blair as EU President as a "hostile move to a future Conservative Government".
After the failure to push through the EU Constitution, failure to implement the Lisbon Treaty will severely dent the EU's credibility. It will also send out signals to the rest of the world that despite the 'experiment' of a European union, member states are still fractured and nationalistic. Europe needs this treaty to be pushed through. Malta must also look beyond its own backyard - the issue of the sixth seat is important, but it is not as important as the future workings of the union as a bloc on the world scene.
We are sure that Europe will eventually push this treaty through. A lot of time and energy has gone into it, and the whole bloc has been distracted. It must be done so as to allow the EU to continue to work on matters of other importance. Immigration, financial recovery, climate change, trading, the Colonial question and many others.
It does indeed seem ironic that the very treaty which is intended to cut down on red tape has been caught up in red tape for far too long. One wonders as to what is in store further along the line.