Fortunately, the press release from the DOI came right in time yesterday to show the Maltese prime minister meeting the Chancellor of Germany along with other prime ministers.

For up till then, we had only had news of the Maltese prime minister meeting the leaders of Italy, France, Spain, Cyprus and Greece in the Athens summit last week.

And we asked ourselves what was Malta doing in the summit of the losers?

It may have been a regional meeting of countries in the Mediterranean, neighbouring countries meeting in quite a rare occasion, but as it happens these are the countries that are doing badly in their economies.

We all know the troubles that Greece has faced, and is facing.

Many might remember the huge troubles that Cyprus faced not so many years ago.

As for the three big countries – France, Spain and Italy – they each face huge economic and financial problems. While Spain has faced its crisis and is coming strongly out of it, Italy is still in the throes of the economic crisis. As for France, this big country which is the cornerstone of European unity, is facing year after year of weak or no growth, high unemployment, and an economy based on rigidities defended by strong trade unions.

There was probably no way Malta could absent itself from such a gathering, but its presence did not augment its good name but rather detracted from it.

It is definitely not in Malta’s best interest to associate itself with these countries. Malta has expressed its solidarity with stricken Greece over the past years but while other countries risked bail outs, imposed strict austerity and suffered high unemployment, Malta had none of these ills.

Its banks did not require bail outs, nor did they engage in high risk adventures that led to so much grief elsewhere.

One admires those countries who instead of whingeing, took the appropriate medicine and came out stronger from the crisis – Ireland, Spain, for example. Or Latvia, in case one forgets. Malta did not have to take such harsh medicine for it never ventured near the cliff edge. At the same time, it would have been enticing to take off as so many countries did, and engineer an artificial boom that would later be revealed to be a bubble that bursts.

It is right that these countries – and why not, even Malta – now insist that the EU must focus on growth, but Malta must sound its small voice and tell these big countries that the path of austerity must not be abandoned, that each country is asked to restructure its labour markets instead of enforcing rigidities.

But Malta must resist being dragged into a front of nay-saying countries out to defy and contrast Germany. It is definitely not in Malta’s interest to be dragged into such a group.

On the contrary, Malta must continue to offer a Germanic approach in a Mediterranean setting.