Greece has agreed to make the necessary cuts demanded by the troika and, in doing so, has paved the way for its second bailout – €130bn – to be given formal approval at a European Council meeting at the beginning of March.

In addition to the bailout, which Malta will be contributing to, Greece will see some €107bn in commercial debt, wiped off the slate. But this all comes at a price. During a meeting on Monday night, it was agreed that Greece must slash its debt from a staggering 160% of gross domestic product to 120% within eight years.

The major difference this time around is that Greece has also agreed to have a permanent European Union, International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank monitoring team in place. It is imperative that Greece does get the funds in order to avoid default on 20 March, when maturing loans and bonds need to be settled.

However, all is not as clear cut as it sounds. Reuters news agency and the Financial Times have got hold of a report compiled by international financial experts which says that the €130bn bailout is not enough and that Greece needs more help to pull itself into line.

But the question everyone is asking is whether this deal is enough for Greece to actually haul itself out of the mire and become a productive cog in the European integrated economy, perhaps for the first time since it joined the euro.

This publishing house is of the same opinion that it has had for the past two years and more. Greece is a sinking ship and this latest deal is nothing more than another attempt to float the bows to buy more time. Athens has continued to slide deeper into the mire since it has tried to implement austerity cuts. The massive shock of unemployment, higher taxes, strikes, inflation and austerity have caused the country’s economy to grind to a halt and contract. Far from beginning to pull itself out of the mire, Greece has regressed and got worse.

In fact, some Greeks even believe that the only reason why the country was given the bailout was to prevent contagion to other economies at risk such as Italy and Spain. In fact, it does look very much like the EU has again papered over the ever invisible and insidious cracks that threaten the eurozone’s common currency.

But this could turn out to be a double whammy. If Greece is stabilised, and Italy and Spain do not perform well enough to assuage the markets, then the focus could shift to them in the blink of an eye.

The Greek parliament is expected to vote on the bailout today, but there should be no problems as the leaders of the coalition parties have already pledged, in writing, to implement all changes stipulated in the bailout conditions.

The deal will spell more hardship for Europe, and many eurozone countries are getting twitchy about having to dig deep into their pockets to help out the Greeks again. But it seems like it will go ahead. What Europe (and national leaders) should do now is drop the pretence. This is no commercial loan to a struggling neighbour – as it was sold at the start. This is simply a bailout, a handout, alms for the poor. And we, the taxpayers of the eurozone, had to pay for it.