Angela Merkel got lambasted in the Bundestag. Rome burned as the people, infuriated at Silvio Berlusconi’s amazing survival as Prime Minister. Athens also burned as protestors, angered by the government’s latest raft of austerity measures, took to the streets with petrol bombs. In the UK, students protesting against the hike in education fees attacked a royal motorcade. Portugal is bracing for more strikes. Spaniards, long over the giddy high of winning the World Cup, are bracing themselves for what is to happen in their own country.

Europe has not seen such wide unrest in decades. The last time that advanced nations saw such wide-spread protests was in the 1980s. The people are angry, they feel cheated.

As all this unfolds before us, European leaders are congregating for a follow-up summit in Brussels. The aim of the summit is to find a way to consolidate financial stability, in terms of the eurozone crisis, but at what cost?

Of course, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi will also be taking part; and one hopes that for the first time, the PM will admit to other European leaders that while Malta is registering growth and is aiming to reduce the deficit, it is coming at a huge cost.

While Malta has not implemented direct austerity measures, such as pay cuts, freezing of bonuses, higher tuition fees and whatnot, we have other hidden austerity measures. The opposition leader was right to say that the new water and electricity tariffs are a hidden austerity measure.

But let us elaborate on the issue. For years and years, our bills were well below par. They were actually a pittance – subsidised (not really) by the state. But instead of gradually implementing new rates, over a 20-year period (yes 20 years – when the PN first came to govern) the government decided to ham-fistedly implement a massive, unheard of price hike. And yes, it is an austerity measure. The government went into sheer panic when oil prices went up and that was the perfect excuse to dump the huge burden on the general public. But once the crisis abated (it did a long time ago), the government realised that the shortfall in tourists for 2009, coupled with economic slowdown and huge cost overruns in capital projects, meant that there would be a nice read figure on our balance sheet. Of course, the only way to disguise this and make up for it was a further hike in tariffs. In that sense, it was an austerity measure. And while making up the shortfall is imperative, going about it in such a ham-fisted, insensitive and unprofessional manner was unbecoming of what we, the people of Malta, a modern EU member state, deserve.

To add insult to injury, and we have already written a leading article on the matter, the government decided to give hefty pay increases to MPs, who more often than not are not even present in parliament. We said it last time, loud and clear and we say it again: Wrong!

One wonders just how much further the government can continue to chip away at earnings and people’s self respect without incurring the wrath of the general public. So far, we have all showed restraint, even the trade unions. But keep doing what you are doing, and you might find that people in Malta will take the lead from Continental Europe. The ball is in the government’s court.