On Tuesday, Malta seemingly woke up to the reality that our currency, the euro, is in very serious difficulty and that the whole eurozone is in crisis.

The matter was discussed in parliament after the Labour Party tabled a motion, calling for the debate to be held, arguing that the government was duty bound to keep parliament and the people informed of what was going on.

Perhaps former Prime Minister Alfred Sant summed up the attitude, saying that people seemed not to care what was going on in Greece, preferring to focus on divorce, Arriva, Air Malta and the cost of living.

Granted, these are all urgent problems, but as this newspaper pointed out in a leading article earlier this week, the eurozone is in a deep crisis and decisive action needs to be taken now, to save the currency and the idea of free-trade under a single currency, across borders.

PL MP Karmenu Vella also gave an interesting speech, and perhaps managed to find the right jargon for the subject. While it is true that the potential collapse of the euro is a very real and tangible crisis, it is far too technical for people to actually give two hoots.

But when someone manages to speak on the issue in layman’s terms and explains the consequences of such a collapse, then suddenly people sit up and listen.

This newspaper has closely followed the unfolding crisis and even predicted much of what has happened since the bubble burst in late 2009. Being right does not win you points in this game, but scrutinising, analysing and keeping things on the record is part of the checks and balances that is part of Malta’s democratic process.

During the debate Finance Minister Tonio Fenech said that being in the eurozone helped Malta weather the financial storm. We disagree. What helped Malta weather the financial storm was, despite all the other mess-ups, prudent financial planning, micro-management of crisis areas and aid packages when the crisis hit the hardest. This is all government’s work. But to persist in saying that the euro helped us weather the storm is just denial. The whole of Europe now concedes that the euro, as a concept, was flawed from the start. Fiscal union without political union led to lose and varied interpretation of fiscal policy, and that is why the euro is in the mess it is in. Granted, Europe must do all it can to prevent its failure, and reform of the eurozone is due, but we cannot continue to say that the euro is a fantastic thing. It is not. It has driven up inflation and prices have gone through the roof. At the same time, Malta is trading in a currency which is deeply flawed and in crisis, but without the cushion of gold and a basket of guarantee currency, as we had before.

Europe must find a way out. We have said this many times before, it is not fair for fiscally prudent countries such as Malta, Germany and the Nordics, to suffer as a result of the actions of others – Greece, Portugal, Ireland, Spain and Italy, amongst others.

But it all boils down to the same question TMI keeps on asking – is fiscal union without political union viable? Can it work? Or do we need to reform the eurozone, or the EU itself?