Freely translated into English, the theme of last weekend's Nationalist Party's general council Bix-xogħol Insaħħu s-Solidarjetà would probably read something like: through job creation we can strengthen solidarity.

But actually we are not only talking about generating work here. We are also talking about "work" in its wider sense. We are talking about the values of commitment and responsibility.

As of late, solidarity has been the talk of the town. Indeed, solidarity is now pretty much part of our political vocabulary both in Malta and in Europe. And so it should be. For today it could be your turn and tomorrow it could be mine.

When we need help we clamour for solidarity. At present, others, such as Greece, need our help and we have pitched in too. That's fine as far as it goes. But it would be naïve to think that solidarity can be extended by those who do not have the means or the capacity to offer it. And it would be equally naïve to think that solidarity is a blank cheque or an insurance policy against recklessness.

This is why I always found it strange that left-wing parties should place all their emphasis on social solidarity through the distribution of wealth (which is fine) but with little or no regard as to how wealth can actually be generated in the first place. For one can hardly distribute the wealth that one does not have (at least, on a sustainable basis) unless you do a Greece and hit the wall at neck-breaking speed.

So the real difficulty lies not so much in how to distribute wealth (which is the easy bit) but in how to create it in the first place (which is a tad harder).

This is where the politics of responsibility come in play.

The politics of responsibility require politicians to channel their efforts to bring about the right economic conditions that can enable the generation of wealth. And this implies that a country must first put itself in a situation whereby it would be truly possible to compete effectively in a tough and often ruthless global economy. To attain competitiveness one must seek to exploit all possible competitive and comparative advantages that, in turn, imply significant effort, discipline and sacrifice.

This applies both at the level of the individual - who must always strive to improve oneself to the best of one's abilities - but also at the level of the country as a whole, that must undertake collective - if often painful - efforts to make the grade towards competitiveness and survival.

Hence, the need for ongoing reforms to improve our lot, whether it is in improving our education and our skills, whether it is weaning off unsustainable state subsidies, whether it is in increasing tariffs to reflect higher fuel prices or whether it is attracting new economic activity that diversifies and renews our economy and that generates new and better jobs that leave higher returns.

And the process is ongoing. In the rat-race of globalisation, the moment you stop, others will overtake you.

It may sound easy but it is actually very hard.

For all this implies having political leaders who have the guts to take the necessary decisions to undertake reforms in order to help us get there. And not politicians who change tune according to their audience or who fall at the first hurdle of unpopular decisions.

The politics of responsibility requires you to take the right decisions, hard and unpopular as they may be. Failing to do so may well win you votes, may well buy you time, but, sooner or later, reality will catch up with you. And what happens then?

Then you get into the Greek fix.

And, yes, Greece has been offered solidarity. But only provided it does its part.

So Greece has now found itself burdened with the unenviable task of having to face reality all in one go. In one single year, it must undertake reforms that had been shelved for years on end. In one fell swoop, it has had to reduce public sector jobs, lower wages, lower pensions, slash perks and allowances, increase VAT, income tax and fuel tax. And that's just some of it.

So the moral of the story is clear.

If we want to avoid the Greek fix, we must take the difficult decisions now. And we should tell the politicians who exploit the pain of reform for their own political advantage where to get off.

Solidarity is fine and we should continue to champion it. But without responsibility, we can kiss solidarity goodbye.

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Dr Busuttil is a Nationalist member of the European Parliament.