Simon Busuttil must have been in an election mode when he penned his contribution of July 29. Everyone knows that the financial disaster that struck Iceland was all due to the reckless dabbling in toxic funds by its banks. The euro currency does not come into the picture. The Fortis bank right in the heart of Brussels did not fare any better. Société Generale was almost wiped out had it not been for the French government's intervention. The fact that we survived the onslaught was only due to our banks' discrete venturing and our rigorous financial regulations. No Dr Busuttil, the euro does not save any currency or any economy. It's the management that counts.

At this moment in time our economy is in such a mess that we badly need to reduce imports and lower the prices of our touristic services. There is only one financial tool which can do such an exercise but we are precluded from using it because we are in the eurozone. The money we had saved for a rainy day in the 1980s (€1 billion) is nonexistent because these vanished soon after the Nationalist administration took over and we now have over €4 billion in national debt.

Our deficit is such that we will incur the penalties for such recklessness. MEP Edward Scicluna implored the European Commission not to impose these penalties at this moment in time.

Currencies do not make economies strong or weak. It is the work that produces goods that create wealth. Dr Busuttil, the readers of this newspaper are not all that naïve.