The twin crises in Europe and America will have their impact felt in Malta too.

It would be foolish to think otherwise because Malta participates in the governance of the eurozone and the eurozone partners that are facing most trouble happen to be Malta’s long-standing trading partners.

Maltese politicians and the social partners are thus called to act responsibly and not let their words on the economy descend into empty rhetoric or their actions become contaminated with complacency.

Unlike the 2007-2008 financial crisis, this debt crisis is the result of a growing belief that the political class is inherently unable to tackle economic challenges and implement necessary reforms.

Malta has its own structural problems that it needs to address: inefficiency in the management of public service resources, a population that is steadily growing older, lack of female participation on the labour market and an increasingly unsustainable health care system, just to name a few.

Tackling these challenges requires leadership, not theatrics.

Malta should therefore take a leaf out of the best practices set by other states in the past months and seek to keep modernising its economy and attract more investment and growth.

Three measures in particular should be emulated on a local level.

Firstly, enshrine the balanced-Budget principle in our Constitution. This would make it illegal for the central government to run at a loss and post a deficit.

Germany has had this principle written into the constitutions of all its states and today enjoys strong economic growth.

Second, set up an Office for Budget Responsibility on the British model.

One of the very first measures adopted by the coalition government soon after being elected to power in 2010 was to establish such office tasked, among others, with identifying and eliminating waste in the British public service.

Its positive effects will surely be felt in the years to come.

Third, invest in quality, research and innovation.

The success of the German economy is owed in part to the propensity of its small- and medium-sized enterprises to innovate and deliver quality products and services.

The political class should seek to make significant inroads in this area.

Higher quality in education, lower business costs, especially costs associated with setting-up and compliance, and efficient and effective intellectual property recognition and protection should become of central importance.

Ultimately, over the next months, our economy should become less of a matter for partisan politics and mere posturing and more about ideas and responsible, bold actions.