Meanwhile I think that when one bears in mind the way certain austerity measures have failed to leave their mark so far in certain countries, the best way to try and understand what is going on there is to try and compare a scenario whereby one tries to pay his or her mortgage by credit card.

I think it was very unfair of the government side to accuse the PL by claiming that we should help the government by not undermining its work on the issue.

In the same breadth the Finance Minister claimed allegations that government was not transparent on EU bailouts deserved to be denied.

The PL has been more than prudent on this saga from day one.

Had it not been so we would have not backed government all along whenever we were requested in Parliament to support such bailouts.

This apart, although we were criticised for not having even triggered a vote on last week’s debate, we felt that maturity and prudence should have prevailed. As they indeed did.

But this does not mean that we should resort to self-imposed castration and take things lying down to the extent of even renouncing our right to question certain decisions.

By now we have got used to the mantra that whoever begs to question certain government policies risks standing accused of undermining the state and going against the national interest.

Although it is true that both the PM and the Finance Minister did report to the House after certain summits and Ecofin committees, I still think that compared to other countries we have been left very much in the dark on this issue.

The argument that the PL should not undermine government by continuing to criticise the utility rates was risible to say the least. This will obviously in no way make amends for the maladministration Enemalta has been subjected to over the years as a result of various Nationalist governments’ failure to come to grips with the core issues. Even the whole issue of fuel procurement remains clouded in mystery although to be fair I asked the Auditor General to probe the matter during the recent Enemalta Estimates debate.

The main points that struck me during the past week during both the run-up to the EU summit as well as in its wake were the following:

• That although Greece will get fresh borrowing at lower interest rates and extended maturities, Europe’s leaders might have bought some time but not necessarily enough to address the whole issue frontally.

• Only time will tell whether what was agreed last Thursday is tantamount to a radical plan of action that can restore confidence where it is most needed.

• Some have concluded, arguably, that the measures taken were far more intended to address market panic from extending further rather than offering a solution that would ensure that the crisis could be over.

• I am confident that when the EU leaders met, although Greece was the main item on the agenda, Italy and Spain were the biggest headaches at the back of the EU leaders’ minds.

• On the bright side, apart from merely insisting on austerity measures, Europe has seemed to have switched to the idea that the Greek economy needs to be revived if it really wants to survive.

• This point becomes even more valid because it has been evident all along that Greek attempts to reduce government spending and seek to raise tax collections were not only never taken that seriously but also that they did not have the right ingredients to ensure that recovery could really be brought about as a result of them.

• The promise that there will be more central control over national budgets and tax policies should only worry those governments that happen to be amongst the least disciplined. But even here talk of such frameworks becoming legally binding were apparently watered down in the final communiqué!

• While certain media have been prompt in billing the call for a comprehensive strategy for growth and investment in Greece as a European Marshall Plan, I am informed that in actual fact reference to such a plan was only to be found in the preliminary version of a statement leaked to the press early on Thursday but then subsequently deleted.

• On the other hand since as The Guardian remarked it was money pouring in for most of the past decade that helped to create the problems in Greece, I personally think that the problems were far more widespread and endemic than that.

• For all those who speculated that Greece should leave the euro, this is something I never took seriously since even if it did so, its debts would have still been in euros. In all fairness not only was such an option not even considered, but none of the leaders present at the summit even bothered to advocate it.

• The only big question mark is whether the deal that the EU pushed forward could impact seriously or not on banks. I am not convinced that it will. But on the other hand I cannot dismiss lightly an observation made that if an individual goes bust, there is plenty of pain and lots of misery but it is confined to a relatively small number of people. While on the other hand, if a country goes bust, it affects all the banks and pension funds that have extended oodles of credit down the years.

The fact that the eurozone key players Sarkozy and Merkel struck some form of a deal prior to the summit itself had already augured well. Even though the British tabloids are quick to dismiss them as the Continent’s most unlikely couple, it remains evident that in the EU some are more equal than others, and anybody who might choose to dismiss the clout of these two countries would be living in a way far detached from reality.

I do not exclude that as happens even within the context of our Prime Minister who invariably always pitches for local and domestic audiences the moment any summit takes place by rejoicing about the positive breakthroughs recorded, both Merkel and Sarkozy no doubt occasionally do as any normal politician or leader would do too: Act and speak in a manner that can pacify, appease or sound like music for the benefit of voters at home too.

It is not easy for top politicians to try and tread the fine line between showing European solidarity in practice and also attempting to keep your own voters happy in the process.

This point gains in added relevance, particularly when the impression I got when recently in Germany was that the country was under pressure from the international media (and other EU countries) for being perceived as having abandoned solidarity for self interest.

The cheekiest but down to earth punch line that I recently came across was that in the past the modus operandi of France has often been to dream up big European ideas... and expect Germany to pay for them.

Meanwhile on the local front surrealism continues to prevail.

We had a short visit by the EU Commissioner for Energy which stood out more for what was not said and or touched upon than the other way round.

While on the San Raffaele financial scandal, were it not for this newspaper, we would have hardly learnt at all about it. A crisis of such gargantuan proportions, whereby this mega hospital which has long had links with Malta since Minister Louis Galea days, is not only risking being declared bankrupt as an enterprise by mid-September, but we also had the sad news that Mario Cal – an eminent personality and deputy director who often dealt with the Malta dossier – had actually committed suicide. Possibly as a result of the ensuing mess.

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Leo Brincat is the Shadow Minister for the Environment, Sustainable Development & Climate Change