The cover photo of this magazine was taken in the area around the old British Hotel in Valletta. It is an area I gravitate toward as my fondest memories from childhood were created here.
After my grandfather’s early passing, I would split my time between my parents’ and my grandmother’s house. But nanna’s was reserved for weekends, when homework and chores would be cast aside, and together with a group of neighbour kids we made those streets our playground.
It’s a humble house but my window opened onto Grand Harbour, perhaps Malta’s most iconic vista which to me served as a constant reminder of our rich culture and heritage. The fortifications are testament to our islands’ preoccupation with foreign invaders. If we look back, we have had more than our fair share of conflict. But our more recent past has had its challenges too.
I lived through the 1980s, and I took an active role in the Nationalist Party at a very young age. I believed it was the PN that fostered democratic aspirations for our nation, which was capable of consolidating our forefathers’ achievements and of translating them into a better quality of life for our children. I have never wavered in those beliefs.
My career in public service started with Guido de Marco at the age of 19, first when he was appointed Minister of the Interior all the way through to his time at the Foreign Ministry. Our country had set its sights on EU membership and we went for it at full steam.
Having co-founded the IVA campaign, the referendum result remains my proudest and happiest moment. Not even my own elections come close. And 20 years on, not only have we shown that we are not diminished by our membership in this family of nations far bigger than our own, but that we can play a critical role in leading and shaping it.
Public service means the people are your employers. It is you whom we serve and no one else. And when it is an elected post that we hold, that relationship is up for periodic review. I hope that in my time in office, I have left some concrete positive impact on your life, dear reader.
In the past years, I’ve worked to drastically increase the rights of parents and carers through the Work Life Balance Directive, which also addresses gender inequality in an effort to reduce the employment, pay and pension gaps between men and women.
We have secured the mobilization of over quarter of a billion Euro through Funds for which I was responsible and increased the rights of persons with disabilities through the EU Disability Card.
I led a campaign for six years to protect journalists from abusive lawsuits, and as of this year, we have an EU Anti-SLAPP Directive and a European Media Freedom Act that will ensure transparency in advertising using taxpayer money and that will protect editorial independence.
I have done my utmost to ensure that not only will Daphne’s legacy live on through the European Parliament’s Daphne Caruana Galizia Prize for Journalism, but that others might be inspired by her courage in holding power to account.
And I have never yielded in our quest for justice that the Maltese people so strongly deserve, justice that we have never been more close to securing.
Who would have thought all those years ago that our islands, sited at Europe’s periphery, would go on to lead the EU from its very centre. Roberta Metsola’s election to the presidency of the European Parliament perhaps best conveys that there is not much the Maltese can’t achieve once we put our minds to it.
Dear reader, our relationship with you is now up for review. We humbly ask that you put your faith in us once more.
