Editorial

The New Year which has just begun will undoubtedly be dominated - at least as far as our small island-nation is concerned - by the formal entry of Malta, along with nine other countries, into the European Union on May 1, the largest enlargement in the Union's 47-year history.

The new status will not only bring about an inevitable culture change in the island, which may not be apparent for some years, but also important changes to its political landscape and in many of its main characters. Then, as it so happens, other changes of a political nature are due which are unconnected with the changeover to EU membership, but which may well be influenced by it.

The first important EU decision which the government is expected to make shortly concerns Malta's EU Commissioner. The most likely candidate to fill that position is the Foreign Minister, Dr Joe Borg, whose knowledge of the EU's workings is certainly second to none. Other nominees for the post have been mentioned, including Finance Minister John Dalli and the Maltese government's chief EU negotiator Richard Cachia Caruana, but Dr Borg's name is the one mentioned with the greatest insistence.

Mr Cachia Caruana has also been mentioned as the top choice for the sensitive post of Malta's permanent representative at the EU Commission and institutions in Brussels. And a Maltese would have to be appointed to head the EU office in Malta, since after May 1, the delegation of the European Commission will become "redundant".

However, Mr Cachia Caruana's appointment would not affect the composition of the Cabinet, which will be the case if either Dr Borg or Mr Dalli is appointed by the President of the EU Commission, Romano Prodi. There is speculation as to who might fill Dr Borg's Cabinet post if he is in fact chosen by Mr Prodi. It could be Mr Dalli, who has held the unenviable post of Finance Minister for almost ten years now. If not, it could be someone like Dr Michael Frendo, who has plenty of experience of the Council of Europe and of EU institutions. A major Cabinet reshuffle is in any case likely.

Then, on April 3, the five-year term of the President of the Republic, Professor Guido de Marco, expires. The case has often been made for appointing as Head of State a distinguished personality who need not necessarily have held political office. However, all Presidents, with the exception of the first, Sir Anthony Mamo (who turned 95 last week), had served as government ministers, so it is difficult to see this happening.

The next appointee should in any case enjoy as wide a consensus as possible, therefore ideally should not be closely associated with any political party, although it must be said that all holders of the highest office in the land, the present incumbent included, have made every effort to be above party politics and to represent, with the utmost dignity, the Maltese people as a whole and to reach out to every sector of the population.

There are of course other important changes likely to take place this year. On February 7 the Prime Minister, Dr Fenech Adami, turns 70, and he has gone on record as saying that he would like the Nationalist Party, which he has led for 27 years, to be under a new leader at the next general election - which is not due until 2008. In these 27 years Dr Fenech Adami has achieved a truly enviable record for a Maltese politician - he has won five general elections and lost only one, and has crowned his political career by taking Malta into the European Union.

Dr Fenech Adami has not indicated when he would be stepping down, but it would certainly not be that far off. For his successor as party leader would also automatically become prime minister, and it would make much political sense to allow his successor to make an impact on the country, while at the same time presenting himself (or herself) as a new leader ready to take on the Opposition Labour Party, which eagerly expects to return to power after a 20-year absence.

In the meantime, a little over the month after Malta joins the European Union, the electorate will be called to choose its five representatives in the European Parliament. It is still an open question as to whether Dr Fenech Adami will lead the Nationalist Party's campaign in this election (which will also probably coincide with the next round of local elections) or whether he would have stepped down as party leader by then.

Whatever happens between now and the next few weeks and months, it is certain that Malta's political landscape will be quite different by the end of the year.