We are in the middle of the summer holidays. But can everyone enjoy the holidays? And is Europe enjoying the holidays?

As things stand today, with the economic crisis far from being over, for sure these holidays are marred by the uncertainty that is not only affecting a number of European Union member states, but also Europe as a whole. Not to mention the difficulties, to say the least, that the United States of America is experiencing at the moment too.

These problems make this summer a different one. Families are cautions when it comes to spending and the holiday period tops the list of the family budget cuts. This is also my case. Going back to the wider picture, countries like Greece, Ireland, Spain and Portugal are in great trouble. There was a lot of talk on these countries and this will continue in the coming weeks as well.

But what about the situation in other member states such as Italy, which is one of the largest countries in Europe? The situation in Italy seems close to exploding in some way or another. Controversial Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi during a press conference last week explained the situation and showed preoccupation, mentioning also the situation in the US.

What about other countries such as France and Germany? Is everything rosy there? The repercussions of other countries will backlash on these super European countries. Financial institutions based in these countries will suffer considerably if, for example, Greece is not in a position to pay its debts and recover from the current economic situation. So while the EU is directly helping Greece with the financial packages that were agreed upon by the European Council, indirectly banks in other countries are being aided too. Is this fair or not, some might ask? What are the alternatives if this is not done? If nothing is done what will the repercussions be?

A basic value of the European Union is solidarity. And this is a moment where solidarity must be tangibly shown. I wish that this solidarity is shown also with Malta when it comes to illegal immigration. But this is another subject. So, yes, I do agree that the steps being taken by the EU, although these are drastic measures that also put a burden on most member states.

And what about the euro? Is the euro stable enough or is the danger for this currency increasing? What happens if a country leaves the eurozone? Are there other member states that at this moment are going to adopt the euro as their currency in the present circumstances? These are some of the pertinent questions the EU should try to answer during these summer holidays. With these kinds of questions and the tough answers, I am not sure whether we can call this period as being one of holiday.

All the above concerns us since we are part of the EU and also part of the eurozone. There are some who still think that we adopted the euro too early, but now this is history or maybe a debate for academics. Now we should seek the way forward in the current difficult situation. We have to also keep in mind that we need to consolidate the local financial situation. Is the government doing what it has to do to reduce the deficit without increasing the debt but at the same time giving a stimulus to the economy? Of course I know it is not an easy task, but I do not believe that the government is doing what it has to do in the current circumstances.

What the government managed to do is to mask the real situation of the finances and the economy as a whole. But this someday will come to haunt us as it did in the not so distant past. Nationalist administrations succeeded to hide the real situation and fictitiously managed to drum up some feel good factor which helped them to overcome the difficulties at election time.

But the economic and financial situations are different from the election periods and when problems are put under the carpet, they will have to be tackled one day or another. And this is what happened in some countries. Now these have to face the harsh reality and tackle it in a way that is difficult not only for their own people but also for the rest of Europe.

Carmelo Abela is Labour Main Spokesperson for Social Policy

[email protected]