At times is seems that we have lost all sense of proportion and priority in this country.

The world markets are still in a virtual state of freefall, European economies and governments are crumbling under the strain of the sovereign debt crisis, the euro currency is still facing a very uncertain future and EU leaders are warning it will take at least a decade for the eurozone to get itself out of the mess it is in.

Within this context, Malta is in a particularly precarious place, with the size of its economy leaving it open to external shocks and economic upheavals. Malta indeed has a lot to lose should the economic crisis hit the country with the force that it hit Italy or Spain.

But against this backdrop, recent months have seen this country engulfed in votes of confidence over public transport, with political opportunism usurping the real job of governing the country time and time again, and the latest political antics from the government backbench have only compounded an already exasperated situation.

Malta yesterday very narrowly avoided being slapped with a whole new range of EU penalties, extra budgetary surveillance and sanctions through the new-and-improved growth and stability pact over its public finances.

Had matters gone the other way yesterday, not only would the Opposition have had a field day, as it did when Moody’s downgraded the country’s credit rating (which is another story altogether), but the country would be looking at a very serious kind of instability.

That is, the kind of instability that comes from families not knowing whether they will be able to keep up with their home and car loan repayments, how they will put food on the table next week, whether they will have a job next month or simply how they will be able to at least retain the standard of living that they are accustomed to.

Such considerations may seem worlds away, but it is our very neighbours who are facing such difficult, life-changing situations, for no fault of their own but rather because their economies are crumbling.

Instead, Malta yesterday had a message of stability from the European Commission, or at least that is how the government would like it to be described.

The fact of the matter is that it was a case of instability very narrowly avoided. Back in November, the European Commission had placed Malta on a watch-list of five countries that it considered were not doing enough to effectively tackle their deficit and debt levels.

At the heart of the matter is that, particularly in the current economic environment, no country can afford to be seen suffering from stability issues – be they political or economic - with a typically ever-increasingly fickle foreign direct investor in these times of turmoil.

Political stability is a key factor that foreign investors, credit rating agencies and other economic movers and shakers, both current and prospective, keep a continuous eye on. At this point in time, when the EU economy is melting and as companies continue to restructure after the worst of the recession, or at least what we hope was the worst, they can change their minds at the drop of a hat.

But while the country’s economy was yesterday thankfully confirmed as relatively stable, its political stability leaves an awful lot to be desired of late, which can be just as dangerous to the economy in this context.

There can be no doubt that the governing Nationalist Party is facing a crisis and is very probably on the cusp of calling an unscheduled, early election for reasons best not delved into too deeply here.

Politics should certainly not be put on the backburner because of an economic crisis, but the question is whether the government should be preparing for a snap election, or preparing for the country’s economic survival.